Kavi Shastri
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kavi Shastri (born 19 February 1986) is a British film and television actor.


Early life and education

Kavi Shastri was born into a Gujarati family in London, England. His family, including parents Kaushik, Geeta and his older brother Ravi, later moved to
South Woodford South Woodford is an area of East London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Woodford Green to the north, Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. T ...
, London. Shastri attended George Tomlinson Primary school in
Leytonstone Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...
, East London, and studied at local dance and drama clubs. At the age of nine, he was enrolled into The Padmini Kolhapure School of Acting in London, and throughout his primary years performed at venues across London. In 1997, Shastri started his studies at the
Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, also known simply as Italia Conti, is a drama school based in Woking, Woking, England. It was founded by the English actress Italia Conti in 1911. Italia Conti offers courses in acting, musical theatre, ...
. As well as academic studies, he trained in Ballet, Tap Dancing, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre and Drama. Whilst at school, Shastri had small roles in ITV's '' This Morning'' and
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
's ''
Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...
''. Kavi graduated into the academy's College on a government scholarship in 2003. While attending college, he acted in three seasons of
CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...
's hit drama show ''
UGetMe ''UGetMe'' was an interactive comedy/drama series centering on three best friends Joe, Kit and Carly and the radio station they run called "UGetMe". Written by Adrian Hewitt, Stuart Kenworthy and Steve Turner, directed by Otto Bathurst and Maddy ...
'' and the British feature Film ''It Could Be You''. As part of his work on the film, Shastri flew to India. Shastri graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts, and was presented with an award from the academy for his achievement in Drama.


Personal life

Shastri married Australian Indian Sherryl Wiltshire in January 2012 in Mumbai, and they currently live in Mumbai, India.


Career

After leaving College, Shastri appeared on ITV's ''
The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...
'', and in British feature film ''
Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...
''. In 2009 he moved to India and enrolled in Anupam Kher's ''Actor Prepares''. After graduation, he acted in Imtiaz Ali's Hindi film '' Love Aaj Kal'', where he met Vir Das. The pair returned to Mumbai to create India's first Comedy Company 'Weirdass Comedy', which presented stand-up comedy shows and performance across India and worldwide, and wrote scripts for the
Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...
Awards,
Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an annual Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema – the democratic way". They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA w ...
and
Stardust Awards The Stardust Awards was an award ceremony for Hindi movies, which was sponsored by '' Stardust'' magazine. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. The first ceremony was held in 2004 for films released in 2003. The ...
. In 2008, Shastri played the part of Rohan Mehra on the Indian television show YRF Television's Rishta.com which debuted on 3 January 2010 on
Sony Entertainment Television Sony Entertainment Television (abbreviated as SET) is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel that was launched in 1995 and is owned by Culver Max Entertainment, a division of Sony Pictures. History This chann ...
. After four nominations at award shows, Shastri was named the best newcomer at the 10th
Indian Telly Awards The Indian Telly Awards is an annual award for excellence both on-screen and behind-the-scenes of Hindi-language television. Conceptualised and created by Anil Wanvari, the founder, CEO of media and services group, indiantelevision.com, they a ...
. Shastri then took on a role with YRF Television's '' Kismat'', an adaptation of ''Kane and Able''. Shastri and Das performed together at Sophia Auditorium in late 2011, in the stand-up comedy show ''Ashvin Gidwani's History of India''. Shastri shot his first two films ''Amit Sahni Ki List'' and ''Main aur Mr Riight'' back to back. Later, he took on a role in the 2013
Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...
' ''
Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...
''. In 2014, Shastri returned to London to shoot for Ameet Chana's directorial feature debut ''Jayden''.


Filmography


Television


Films


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shastri, Kavi 1986 births Living people British male film actors Male actors in Hindi cinema British male television actors Gujarati actors British Hindus Actors from the London Borough of Redbridge British people of Indian descent 21st-century British male actors Male actors from London