Ashwin Sakthivel makes his mark in Hollywood

Ashwin Sakthivel

British Tamil actor Ashwin Sakthivel excelled in his role as Vinod Pradeep in the new Prime Video series The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh. The show, which premiered in October 2024, tells the heartfelt and humorous story of an Indian immigrant family moving from Ahmedabad, India to Pittsburgh, USA. Ashwin’s character, Vinod, is the youngest in the family - a curious and cheeky child, eager to embrace American culture.

In an interview with the Tamil Guardian, Ashwin shared his enthusiasm for the series’ concept, which fuelled his determination during the audition process. Reflecting on his journey to landing the role, Ashwin said: "They give you a bit of the story before and I feel like it definitely creates your passion. I read what it was about, and I think I gave it more... effort than all the other auditions because I liked it and I was so passionate about it. I feel like you could see that in the audition as well. I was excited about it because it was an immigrant family, but also because of the fact that it was such [a] well-known cast list and some of these people I'd... watched before."

Pradeeps of Pittsburgh Poster

Ashwin recalled how it felt to land the role: "It was crazy because I auditioned in the Summer of 2022 and then I only got the news that I'd got the role in early November. So, it was a lot of suspense but it was worth the wait. And at the time, I just couldn't wait on to get on set! It was amazing and my family were all very happy for me. I flew out to Canada to film. It was my first time going across the sea to film. So I felt like it was all very proper and professional. It was the biggest thing I'd done. So I was a bit nervous, but mainly 99% excitement."

Ashwin Sakthivel as Vinod Pradeep

Ashwin revealed how his family background significantly shaped his portrayal of Vinod: "Both of my parents are immigrants, and I heard a lot of stories which were kind of similar to the scenes on The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh. I would talk to my dad and I asked him if the stories we were going to do were any similar to his, and it was. Learning about that helped me envision the character of Vinod."

The similarities between himself and Vinod also helped Ashwin bring authenticity to the role: "I see a lot of myself in Vinod really, because I would like to say I'm optimistic. I'm the youngest of my family and everyone thinks I'm cheeky. Yeah, that's like Vinod! So, I felt like I could just be myself when I was playing Vinod."

Ashwin Sakthivel as Vinod Pradeep

Ashwin shed light on the creative freedom he was given on set: "A lot of it was improvisation, changing the lines a bit. And Vijal, who was the writer/producer, he was very open to new ideas. So me and Arjun Sriram, who plays my brother Kamal, we would go through the script the night before shooting and write any ideas we had, and then in the morning of filming we would go to Vijal and tell him ideas, and he would say ‘Yeah, let's try it out.’ So, a lot of all of the stuff on the script was changed a bit to suit our characters."

Taking on his biggest role yet, Ashwin overcame several challenges, including learning lines in Gujarati, perfecting an Indian American accent with the help of a dialect coach, and adapting to a professional, overseas filming environment. He noted, "I would always ask people for advice, because I was so young. I was 11 when I filmed it, so I was asking more on how to be on set, because I was still learning at the time as well, and I'm still learning. I learned a lot of things because it was the biggest thing I'd done at the time. Like being respectful to the people around you... from the props people to the camera men to the producers, everyone's sort of on their own mission on set. So you have to be mindful of that, it can be stressful at times."

Ashwin recalled fond memories from filming and being on set, forming close bonds with the cast and crew: "In Canada, we used to have Saturday pizza nights after set, so we would order some pizza and just have a weekly debrief... That was very fun! It's great to have cast members that you can enjoy the job with, because you enjoy jobs differently, and a vast factor is the people you work with. If they're not fun, then I feel like it kind of tones down your experience on set. But I was very lucky to have incredible cast members on The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh. By the time we ended the show, we were all like a real family! Everyone on set knew each other well, and everyone was very welcoming in the first few weeks, and then we just became a family!"

Ashwin Sakthivel Headshot

At just 13 years old, Ashwin has already made impressive strides in his career. He played Edmund Woodward in the Easter Speicial of the BBC show Dodger, voice acted as Mo in the animated series Pip and Posy and performed on stage at the National Theatre as Bill in Dear Octopus. Reflecting on his journey into acting, Ashwin said: "I always had a passion for TV and I started acting through speech and drama and LAMDA exams. I went to the local drama competition and through that competition, I met a agent and a drama teacher. She had an agency, so she invited me to that. We don't think of it too seriously at the time, and then we put myself up for some auditions, and it kind of went from there."

Having explored acting on TV, film and on stage, Ashwin shared his preferences across acting mediums: "They're all very fun, but I would say TV has got to be my favourite... You have so many takes, and you can do a scene multiple times, changing things if you make a mistake, you can go again. Whereas stage, there are thousands of people watching you. If you mess up, then you've... cost the show. So there's a lot more pressure on you at stage. And I feel like TV is more malleable... you can change stuff. Whereas stage... because you're working like with other people live... you've got to stick to the script and obviously stage directions. You've got to know where... to move and when to move. So, yeah, I feel like TV's got to be my favourite. Voiceovers are much easier than both of them, because you're basically just in a box and you've got a script. You just read off the script, and the director will tell you if they want you to change it or whatever. So I feel like voiceover is probably the easiest, but my favourites definitely got to be TV."

Ashwin expressed his pride towards the growing South Asian representation in Western media: "I think it's great, and especially for young people like me, to be able to see people like them. I think it's inspirational for kids, because you don't often see that back in the day, you would only see like a best friend character or a character that says one line and then you never see them again. But now there are more shows and films like basing based on brown immigrant families. I think it's great. The growing representation is going highly and this, I think it's really good."

Looking to the future, Ashwin hopes to explore acting in comedy: "I like high comedy. So The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh was like a dream come true. I love high comedy because you don't need to be natural. Even if it's on TV, you can really over perform it, so there's less pressure on that. Yeah, so comedy, and I would like to do comedy films more than TV shows."

Ashwin offered his advice to other aspiring actors: "Everyone says this, but I think it's very true to never give up... There are things that you audition for and you won't get, and the only reason you don't get it is because your your personality doesn't suit the role... There will definitely be something for you out there. You just got to keep searching and never give up.’

With his talent, determination, and passion, Ashwin Sakthivel is undoubtedly a rising star to watch.

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