Meet Sreejith Nair | Producer, Writer, Director, Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sreejith Nair and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sreejith, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in Forest Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago. My family is from Kerala, the southern-most state of India. Being born and raised in Chicago by a South Indian family has definitely given me a unique perspective on the world. Growing up, I always felt like I was a part of two worlds, but never truly part of either of them. I was always the only brown kid in school, and at home I was seen as too Americanized.

The first movie I ever saw in my life was Disney’s Dinosaur, which had a huge impact on my life. I became obsessed with researching dinosaurs and prehistoric life, believing I was going to be a paleontologist, but that dream quickly faded.

My passion for dinosaurs eventually led into passion for monsters, and I started watching movies like King Kong and Godzilla, which is where I finally learned, I want to make movies. I started making short videos in high-school, which eventually led to me getting involved in short films.

I graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2016, and then proceeded to make an Award-Winning Short Film, THE COLOR OF ME, now available on Amazon Prime. The film was an exploration of racism and colorism through a fantasy romance perspective, as the main character was a woman whose skin magically changes color into 5 different races. It was considered as the “Best Original Concept” by the Las Vegas Black Film Festival of 2019.

Shortly after completing my short film, I finally move to Los Angeles to really start my career. After 5 long years, I landed a job with ViacomCBS and was finally able to get the funding to produce my dream project about Indian dinosaurs.

I reached out to Vaishali Shroff, the author of the famed children’s book, “The Adventures of Padma and a Blue Dinosaur” as well as LA Bollywood dance teacher Sharon James and his daughter Sayanora, and we all came together with our LA-based crew to produce the first ever, Indian Dinosaur short film, RAJASAUR.

This film felt like an overall culmination of my entire life, where I finally got to combine my love of monsters and dinosaurs with my South Asian culture and I most certainly could not be prouder about it.

I hope to continue my journey in the film industry and create more of a space for South Asians in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror genres.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I spent my whole life being obsessed with monsters, dinosaurs, superheroes, robots, and all sorts of crazy sci-fi and fantasy characters. My entire career was basically centered about creating more of the non-human characters who inspired me. I love writing for and playing monsters and other non-human characters because it allows me to explore emotions and character development that human characters wouldn’t normally have. I do admit, I have been confronted with a lot of pushback with monster characters being tough to sell, and particularly how hard it is for South Asian writers to find a platform to tell their stories. But I never wanted to give up, because my passion for monsters and storytelling is so strong. Everyday I am coming up with a new non-human character and writing a story around him/her, and a lot of this fuels my passion for filmmaking and acting.

I want to be known as that South Asian Filmmaker who thinks outside the box and create new and exciting characters and amazing new worlds. I continue to stay inspired by my idols who made a name for themselves in the world of monster movies, Ray Harryhausen, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, and many others. If I become known as “That Indian Monster Guy” that would be a dream come true for me!

I love writing monsters, I love playing monsters, and I love storytelling, and no matter how hard the film industry gets, no one is taking that away from me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would visit all the movie studios, Paramount, WB, Universal, etc.

I really love all the California beaches and enjoy the sunsets, which I have started a new summer hobby of doing beach cleanups and protecting the environment.

Definitely can’t forget about Disneyland and Disney World.

I love Los Angeles for it’s overall culture and feel, you really feel like you are in the heart of where imagination runs and anything is possible.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I really just want to thank all the people who have believed in me for so long and even during my darkest moments have always told me that they want to see me succeed. Here are all the people who have been extremely supportive of me.

My mother, Jaysree Nair
My sister, Sreeja Nair
My dad, Sreekumaran Nair (RIP, 2019)

My entire extended family in both the US and in India

I would also love to thank all the South Asian filmmaker organizations who have always supported me.

– Product of Culture (@_productofculture_)

– South Asians in Entertainment (@southasianent)

– South Asians in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sasfha

Without all the people in these groups, I never would have made it.

Website: https://www.sreejithsnair.com/

Instagram: @sreejithnair94

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreejithnair94/

Twitter: @sreejithnair94

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sreejith.nair.3194/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sreejithnair94/

Image Credits
1 – Poster for Rajasaur – A Film Produced & Directed by Sreejith Nair 2 – Photoshoot for King Shark Suicide Squad Cosplay, makeup by Jesse Walker, photography by Aaron Powell 3 – Headshot by Paul Zecharia 4 – Still from Rajasaur – A Film Produced & Directed by Sreejith Nair 5 – Blue Giant Halloween Project – I wanted to play an big blue monster for Halloween based on the children’s book Abiyoyo, Makeup by Alyssa Hudson, Photography by Jeeraya Moranon 6 – Production Still from a short film called Dog Gone-It, directed by Hunter Cox, where I play a mischievous Black Cat, as well as be the film’s DP. 7 – Melder Man, a character I created for Halloween 2019, makeup by Trinity Rose 8 – A poster for the feature film, We Found Something, directed by Jesse Heisel, where I got to play an evil monster.