Meet Veda Baldota | Actor

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

Hi Veda, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I was an athlete my whole childhood.
I got recruited to be on track and cross country team at UC Berkeley, where I did my undergrad. In my last semester of sophomore year, my sister, Vaamaa, reminded me I hadn’t fulfilled my arts requirement, and I was like “oh” and she said “Why don’t you take an acting class?” and I was like “Dude, what am I gonna do in an “acting class”” and she said, “Dude, I am your sister. I know you. this class is YOU.” So I went to the class and after that I was like Oooo wait this feels right. The more classes and productions I was in, I felt like two puzzle pieces fitting together. By the time I graduated I knew this is what I wanted to do as my career But I felt like I needed more acting training since it was so new and raw. So I went to grad school and got an MFA in acting at Columbia University.
Why did I pursue it? The feeling in my gut, the feeling my heart, the smile on my face, the tears in my eyes. It’s very hard to ignore it so I pursue it. Not only that, overtime and being in a rigorous 3 year grad program, I realized no matter how hard it got, and how longg the hours were and how tired my body and mind was, I want my longg hours to be spent on THIS, I wanna be tired doing THIS. And the best part about pursuing this career is I am always learning.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I mean what sets me apart from others is ME lol like my quirks and weirdness, my values, my life experiences, the way I see the world.
I feels weird to answer “how did you get to where you are professionally?” because I feel like I have a long way to go and big dreams to turn into reality. But at the same time I wanna honor my journey up til here. It was not easy and as a young, South Asian immigrant woman who is also dyslexic, who wants to settle and work here in America, I came across number of challenges and still face them. But the lesson I learnt and I am STILL learning is: how do I make my challenges my strengths. I think discipline (which I learnt from my sports background), always being in the state of learning/curiosity and being in the PRESENT(most important for acting and phew, still learning to do it when life is life-ing)
What I want the world to know about me is I am a south asian fire cracker who not only aims to illuminate south asian culture, dismantle stereotypes but also unravel the threads that weave us together as humans. Especially now.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wanna give a BIG shoutout my mom, Lavina Baldota, who has been my strongest support, who is my world, who constantly helps me push my boundaries and grow (both as an actor and a person).
I wanna shoutout the MFA acting faculty at Columbia University: Sita Mani, Liz Hayes, James CallerI, Peter Jay Fernandez, Ron Van Lieu, Scott Whitehurst. They have been key in moulding me and my art, helping me access my authentic self to express my art, and have always been there for me.
I also wanna shoutout everyone who has knowingly and unknowingly helped me, and is constantly helping me further my career.

Website: https://vedabaldota.com

Instagram: @vedabaldota

Facebook: @vedabaldota