Ravi Kapoor was born on the 27th June 1969 in Liverpool where he was raised. He is of Punjabi Indian heritage, an actor and director operating outside India, brought up and raised in England throughout his life. He studied for three years in the East 15 Drama School in Loughton, Essex before starting his film career and lived in London for ten years before relocating to Los Angeles with his wife (actress Meera Simhan) in 1997, so he feels like he is now well versed in understanding the Indian-American experience. His wife and co-writer Meera was born in London and raised in India, but mainly Southern California, and therefore has lots of experience and insights into the world of this film. Her family immigrated to the United States in the early 1970s and settled in San Diego, California. Growing up she studied Indian Classical Dancing with the Shakti School of Bharatanatyam and at age eight she went to Kodai Kanal International Boarding School in India before returning to California to attend High School and College in Orange County. She then moved to London where she attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). After graduating from LAMDA Meera began her professional career in England playing Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet' and she then went on to play numerous roles in British theater and television. After moving back to Los Angeles with Ravi, Meera continued her work as an actress playing various roles, guest starring, and recurring roles in television and film. Following his move to the United States, Ravi worked with a touring children’s theater company, performing plays such as 'The Tempest', 'The Three Musketeers', 'The Odyssey' and 'Romeo & Juliet'.
Ravi's first film was in 1998 when he featured in the British independent feature 'Wild West', a film
about a Pakistani country-western band looking to make it to Nashville. After that he worked in many films like 'Flight' (1997), 'Raspberry Magic' (2010) and 'The Grace of Jake' (2015). His first TV appearance was as an Asian for one episode in the series 'Moon and Son' (1992) which was followed by similar low key roles in the likes of 'The Bill' (1993), Casualty' (1993), 'Ruth Rendall Mysteries' (1997) and in 5 episodes of the mini series 'In a Land of Plenty' (2001) as Harry Ganatra. This led to major medical roles in the series 'Gideon's Crossing' (2000-2001) and 'Crossing Jordan' (2001-07) for which he became more well known.
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| Ravi and Meera |
He continued to work steadily in television throughout the early 2000s with other well known TV series stacked in his resume such as 'My Name is Earl' (NBC, 2005-09), 'The Game' (2006-15), 'Numb3rs' (2008), '24' (2009), 'Flashforward' (2010), 'Grey’s Anatomy' (2010) and NCIS' (2018), His theatre credits include the Los Angeles production of 'Rice Boy' at the Mark Taper Forum. As well as a number of award winning short films, some of the plays he has written and directed include 'Oh Sweet Sita', which played in both London and Toronto and was named a top ten play of the year by London Time Out. Then he directed and co-wrote the feature 'Miss India America' (2015) with wife Meera as actor and creative producer. He describes this show as a way to give closure to Meera who was once a Miss India California and a runner up at a Miss India America pageant, when not coming first deeply scarred her, so writing this movie together was the only way to give her closure. Ravi and Meera thought it would be a great idea to film the event and get a feeling of wining which the actress was initially disheartened by.
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| Four Samosas |
Ravi then got together with Venk Potula to pursue their storytelling passions with a film that took them back to their independent DIY roots. 'Four Samosas' premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival before going on to screen at the Raindance Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. This low-budget heist movie, comedy, and love story all rolled into one was shot on location in Los Angeles's Little India neighborhood and stars Potula as Vinny, an aspiring rapper who recruits a trio of first-time criminals. Ravi said, "I always wanted to do a story set in Artesia, the Little India of Los Angeles, a place that fascinated me. It's a very specific Little India, it's not like Queens or Jackson Heights in New York, because it's not as bustling, because of the heat of Southern California. Everything takes place inside the restaurants and sari stores. What fascinates me about Little India is that they are like little principalities in some ways, like a motherland or a homeland. I didn't grow up in India; I have only visited it a handful of times. But going to a Little India in whatever city I'm in, it was a way to tap into that homeland that I never knew. That was one driving force."
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/07/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians.html
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