MY TIME TO SHINE

Name: Adolyn. What I love about names is that we get to give our names the meaning we want by the life we live. I hope the people around me can one day tell me what my name means by the memories I leave behind.

Currently: I can be seen in Desi Standard Time Travel. It is a heartwarming story about a young man who gets the opportunity to go back in time to see his recently deceased dad to end things on a better note. It asks you “what would you say to your parents if you knew you had another chance?” And I extend, respectfully, that if you can...what’s stopping you from asking now? It’s funny, witty, and will definitely leave you hugging your loved ones.

Favourite colour: Orange. The colour of the sunrise/sunset orange. 

Favourite designer: Parishae Adnan – an emerging durzi. I really want her to design something for me in her Game of Thrones meets Kurta-esque style. A chainmail vest? I’m in. 

Favourite Bollywood star: Hands down Irrfan Khan. His eyes alone can tell a story.

Favourite Hollywood stars: This one is tough. So many good ones out there. I have to give props to my fellow south Asian, Riz Ahmed, who’s incredible. I’ve been a huge fan of James McAvoy’s work, especially his voice work. I also feel like Florence Pugh is absolutely arresting as an actor and am secretly hoping one day I get to act across her. 

Favourite movies: Batman Begins. It’s a movie I watch every time I feel like I’m at a new beginning in life. The LOTR trilogy for the memes. And Everything Everywhere All At Once, of course.  

Favourite singers:  Geoff Tate from Queensryche, Stephen Christian, Anberlin Eminem when he sings.

Favourite songs: Flight of the Conchords – Jenny, Bol Hu – Soch the Band featuring Hadiya Hashmi.    

Favourite TV show: Right now, it’s Barry.

Favourite ice cream flavour: Chocolate with dark chocolate chunks.

Favourite cuisines: Well, obviously, desi. A-one, number one! But Vietnamese is a close second. 

Favourite restaurant: Any place that serves Vietnamese and desi food together.

Favourite sports: Basketball, soccer and basically any sport really. I grew up playing them all.  

Favourite sportspersons: Michael Jordan – GOAT. Lebron James as the GOAT of humans though, I mean that man is still playing? He also seems to have it together, wife, kids and gives back. Gotta respect that and them.

Favourite books: Homeland by R.A Salvatore and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

Favourite activities: Aside from acting? Reading, writing and playing sports. Spikeball tournament, anyone?  

I hang out: With animals like they’re my friends and with my friends like they’re animals.

I’m freaked out by: Pitch Perfect song-offs. It’s...just... so...odd. Ugh. I’m getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.

I need: A dismantling of social structures that perpetuate inequitable ideas as ‘normalized truths’ and need that replaced with, at the very least, a curiosity to try something new in the name of equity. Even if it doesn’t work, isn’t it worth trying? But also like a hug.

I want to be: The kind of person who’s kind, considerate, compassionate and light-hearted enough to find the depth in life without losing the fun.

My role models: The unsung heroes, the ones who make the world a better place without us even knowing who they are. The ones who fight the good fight and end up, like Malala Yousafzai’s dad Ziauddin, who started teaching girls after school and has supported his daughter every step of the way. This is what he said and it resonates with me still “…in patriarchal societies, a father’s voice is perhaps the next most important tool to galvanize change”.  I hope I’ll continue to remember that when one day I too am a father.

Tips to save the planet: Don’t listen to me! I’m a cognitive science nerd turned actor. Listen to the scientists who are hard at work in the field. Please follow them on all the socials and please read their peer-reviewed papers that solidly prove that the planet needs saving and follow their guidance. Also, consider the transitive argument: that in a world of scarcity, it only makes sense we start to consider ways to save, preserve and find novel ways to support this planet. Even if you deny climate change as a science, perhaps deeply consider that there’s nothing inherently wrong with slowing things down a bit, just a wee bit! I mean, we want that cake and want to eat it too for not just today right?

In a perfect world: We would find a way to make it imperfect. Ha. Just kidding. Ha. Cry. I think in a perfect world people would be free to be themselves, sentient/non-sentient things would be free to live in harmony with us and we’d truly realize that we aren’t separate from nature. And that dark chocolate ice cream would flow like the Ganga river outside and only those who aren’t lactose intolerant could swim. Wait. I mean, D-E-I-ce cream for all!

Be a Desi Star!  If you’d like Desi News readers to ‘meet’ you, call 416-695-4357 or e-mail desinews@rogers.com to arrange a photo session! It’s fun and it’s free!