Rajeev Varma Actor/ Writer/ Producer

Rajeev Varma has been acting professionally for 16 years. He graduated from The Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts in Auckland, New Zealand, with a Diploma in Acting in 1995. He immediately created the Rising Generation Theatre Company and produced and acted in Play Lunch, Spies Spy or Die and Versus, all written by Toa Fraser. He produced the premiere season of Bare by Toa Fraser and also produced, acted, devised and starred in Look Me In The Eye, at the Silo Theater in 1999.

From 2000 – 2002, Rajeev was a core member of the improv comedy troupe, The Improv Bandits. In 2003, he toured with them to the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

From 2002 onwards, he created Those Indian Guys with New Zealand comedian Tarun Mohanbhai. With Those Indian Guys Rajeev has toured extensively with D'Arranged Marriage and From India with Love to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa between 2003 and 2007.

In 2003, he created The Untouchables Collective, New Zealand’s first South-Asian theatre company, which premiered its first production Yatra at the Wellington Fringe Festival 2004, to great acclaim.

In 2007, Rajeev starred in two prime time comedy shows for TV3: The Millen Baird Show and A Thousand Apologies. The Millen Baird Show was nominated for Best Comedy Programme in the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards in New Zealand. 1000 Apologies is groundbreaking New Zealand Television: the first prime time sketch comedy show in the nation that focused on the Asian and South Asian experience.

In 2008 Rajeev immigrated to the United States.
Since arriving he has performed in the following:

• Elephant in Aryavana Flies or A Pretty Dish by Sheila Callaghan. (Winner Samuel French Short Play Competition 2008.) Directed by David A. Miller.

• The Developer by Marcus Haupt. Presented in the Brooklyn Playwrights Collective's Annual Festival of New Plays 2008. Directed by Melissa Fendell

• Alex in Summertime. A feature film directed by Max Weissberg and produced by Luftmenschfilms.

• Brian the Call Center Operator in the HBO.com webisodes Got No Game with Paul Mercurio.

• Big Love Voice Over Promo for HBO, directed by Peter Feldman

• The Philanthropist Loop Group for NBC with Sondra James Casting

• The Narrator in the audio book of The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. A preview and purchase is available at audible.com via Amazon.

In 2009, Raj was featured on Close Up on TVNZ. The interview documented his new life in New York as a New Zealand artist taking on the Big Apple. At the time he was producing and performing in a five month sold out run of D’Arranged Marriage at the Huron Club in New York at the Soho Playhouse. The show then transferred Off-Broadway to the Triad NYC where it ran from April till December 2010.

In March 2011, Raj will travel to Canada to Premiere D'Arranged Marriage in Ontario, Canada at the Richmond Hill Performing Arts Center. He is also working on a screenplay treatment with Tarun to follow on the release of the film Curry Munchers in New Zealand, which he stars in.

Rajeev Varma Showreel 2010 from actmanraj on Vimeo.

Stage highlights include: Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank, the New Zealand national tour of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Le Beau in As You Like It, Rajesh in The Taro King. In Taki Rua's production of Awhi Tapu by Albert Belz he won a nomination for “Best Supporting Actor” at the 2003 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for his portrayal of Casper.

Television credits include: Xena: Warrior Princess, Young Hercules, Hercules, Cleopatra 2525, Letter to Blanchy, Shortland Street, Asia Down Under, P.E.T. Detectives, Serial Killers, The Mike King Show, Some of My Best Friends Are…Indian, B & B and Burying Brian.

Feature Film credits include: Amarbir Singh’s digital feature 1nite, The Price of Milk, Toy Love and We Are Here to Help. Raj shot Curry Munchers in New Zealand in 2010 and it is slated for national release throughout New Zealand on February 24th, 2011. For more information about Curry Munchers visit the website.

Short film credits include: Snap, The Numbing Heart, Act of a Dying Man, Discount Taxi Driver and The Passion of the Heist (winner Best Actor 2007 Auckland 48 Film Festival Awards), all collaborations with award winning director Cristobal Araus Lobos.

Rajeev has also collaborated with director Peter Salmon extensively and is featured in his short films Letters About the Weather and Playing Possum which is shot on 35mm. Possum screened in competition at the Clermont Ferrand, Edinburgh Film Festival and the Valladolid International Film Festival. It also screened at the Telluride Film Festival, Rotterdam, the New York Children's Festival, Mill Valley, Hof, Brisbane and L'etrange (where it won the Grand Prix and audience awards). Rajeev and Peter's latest collaboration entitled The Box was accepted into the New Zealand International Film Festival 2010. Visit the Facebook page for a preview.

Directing credits include: Painted Lips by Katherine Van Beek at the 2001 Wellington Fringe Festival, D’Arranged Marriage and most recently Melting in Madras performed by H.R. Britton as part of the 2009 Frigid Festival in New York. Rajeev has facilitated 3rd year graduating students’ solo shows at Toi Whakaari, New Zealand’s National School of Drama, working alongside Jude Gibson in 2003.

Rajeev Varma currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife.
He is a New Zealand born Punjabi/Rajasthani Indian.

Tarun Mohanbhai Co-creator/Performer

Tarun Mohanbhai first began his comedy career at school entertaining his classmates, but it wasn’t until 1996, that he first performed live at Kitty O’Briens comedy evenings.

In 1998, Tarun performed at his first New Zealand comedy Festival doing stand -up and since then has performed all over the world with his own style of stand up. That year he also went on to start his own company That Indian Guy (www.thatindianguy.com) which went on to produce the comedy shows Curry and Rice, Curry Muncher, Corner Shop Confessions, One Mic Stand, Tarun talks Wedges and the first season of D'Arranged Marriage.

In 1998, Tarun won Quest of the fest at the New Zealand Comedy Festival and went on to appear in TV’s Pulp Comedy in 1999 and consecutive series. In 2002, Tarun devised D'arranged Marriage with Rajeev Varma, for which he was nominated for a Billy T Award. The show was a sell-out success and was picked up by Mollisons in Australia on an international contract. In 2003, he toured extensively with D'arranged Marriage both nationally and internationally.

From 2002 onwards, he created Those Indian Guys with New Zealand Actor Rajeev Varma. With Those Indian Guys, Tarun has toured extensively with D'Arranged Marriage and From India with Love to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, USA and the U.K. between 2003 and 2010.

In 2003, he was a co founder of The Untouchables Collective, New Zealand’s first South-Asian theatre company, which premiered its first production Yatra at the Wellington Fringe Festival 2004, to great acclaim.

In 2005, Tarun was starred along with other comedians in Last Laugh a hidden camera show for TV2. In 2007, Tarun starred in two prime time comedy shows for TV3: The Millen Baird Show and A Thousand Apologies. The Millen Baird Show was nominated for Best Comedy Programme in the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards in New Zealand. 1000 Apologies is groundbreaking New Zealand Television. Its the first prime time sketch comedy show in the nation that focused on the Asian and South Asian experience which he also was a contributing writer for.

Tarun’s television credits include: Pulp Comedy (multiple series), Mercy Peak, Australia’s Comedy channels’ Forum Gala 2003, 2002 Billy T Awards, Asia Down Under, Some of my Best Friends Are Indian, Havoc, Mike King show, Last Laugh, A Thousand Apologies, The Millen Baird show and Amazing Extraordinary Friends and Radi Radi Rah.

Feature Film credits include: Tyrannical Love, Tarun shot Curry Munchers in New Zealand in 2010 and it is slated for national release throughout New Zealand on February 24th, 2011. For more information about Curry Munchers visit the website. He also has a cameo in Rosanne Liang’s upcoming feature film My Wedding and Other Secrets.

Short film credits include: The Warning and Love in the Time of Chlamydia. In January 2008, Tarun worked alongside 11 other performers to take part in a live sketch show for CBS in Los Angeles which was performed for casting agents and studio executives. From 2008 -2010 Tarun was the host of the Asian Radio Show on Radio Live.

Tarun is an established MC, Corporate performer and established comedy writer and is a New Zealand born Gujarati Indian.