If you really want to achieve something, sky is certainly not the limit and nothing is impossible to those who wholeheartedly desire to achieve something in their lives. One such example is Suesha Rana. Unfamiliar to many in Kathmandu, Suesha, 23, is already somebody promising for the people in Perth, Western Australia. While it’s a dream for many aspiring Nepali actors to get to learn acting abroad, this young pretty maiden of Nepal has already been a part of many celebrated Australian shows and she is now all set to move to Hollywood. A true Libran in every aspect, Suesha is born to the late lyricist Sahadev Rana (the writer of the popular Nepali song “San Naniko Galaima”, sung by Phatteman Rajbhandari).
Suesha, who believes that performing arts was always in her gene pool, was blessed by the support from her parents since her childhood. Unlike many parents in the capital city of Kathmandu who dream of their children scoring 80 and above in Mathematics and Science, Suesha’s parents cared least about her academic scores. They gave their daughter enough space to explore and earn skill in whatever she was comfortable with. This gave Suesha further encouragement to pursue her career in performing arts.
“It’s my mom and dad who always nurtured and supported my decisions to take up singing, acting and dancing lessons,” Suesha, who is busy expanding her horizons into different theatrical troupes of Australia, wrote to Republica in an email. Her love for acting started at a tender age of eight.
“I never knew then that acting was something that came rather naturally to me,” the beautiful lady shared.At eight, she moved to Perth, and a year later, got her enrolled in St. Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, popular for dramatic arts. She was one of those few international students in Perth who actively took part in theatrical and musical shows very often. As she grew up, she was involved in more complex characters and celebrated plays, such as “Macbeth” and “Henry V” by Shakespeare. Because she was completely in love with musicals, this passion in her took her to doing musicals such as “Anything Goes”, “Chorus Line” and “Alice in Wonderland” in different places of Australia. Becoming an actor was not only the dream that she aspired to achieve. She also wanted to become a singer, and to make this happen, she involved herself in the school choir for seven years. Furthermore, Suesha joined the Barbershop Quartet, a popular musical choir worldwide. She also took up lessons in ballroom and Latin American dancing. As soon as she completed her grad school, she knew that the roads ahead would certainly not be easy and she needed to learn more to become an actor abroad. She immediately joined open programs with NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts), the same institution where actors such as Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe studied. Side by side, she joined the Perth Actors Collective and became the disciple of Anni Murtagh Monks, who discovered Heath Ledger, and James Hagen, a renowned drama teacher in Western Australia.
For those who truly have an ambition to fulfill, the process of learning never ends. Suesha is absolutely an example of this. Even after having enough education on acting, her thirst to learn did not end there. She went to Los Angeles to get further training under Howard Fine, Amy Lyndon, and Dee Wallace Stone. These acting coaches have trained actors such as Brad Pitt, Simon Baker, Heather Locklear, and Lindsay Lohan. With training going ahead smoothly, she started heading towards film and TV instead of theatre because there was a lot more for her to achieve.
“I got a role in the film by Melanie Rodrigues’ “My Past My Present” (nominated for best director by Australian Film Institute AFI). I also went on to do many short films like “Not Alone”, “Jesus Walks” and others. I also did a short film directed by Mark De Friest (A BAFTA winning director). A month ago, I just finished a theatre performance of “Lady Windemere’s Fan” by Oscar Wilde,” Suesha unveiled. Maxine Howell Price from Actors, Suesha’s acting agent, often lands her in different commercials of Australia. She has already been on the hoardings of wineries, health insurance, ambulance, and has also associated herself with different anti-drugs campaigns. Because Suesha settled in Australia when she was really young, she says she can’t say when she would come back to Nepal. Nevertheless, this upcoming actress is all ready to appear on Nepali silver screen if she is given an opportunity.
“The only Nepali movie I remember now is Prem Pinda,” enunciates Suesha and adds on Nepali film industry, “Nepali films should definitely be shown globally, especially since there are so many Nepalis around the world. Each of us living abroad can become good ambassadors of Nepal and demonstrate our culture through our movies which I know the western world will love.” “Please dream,” she tells all Nepali young people and concludes, “Dream big and go out and get it, never let anything stop. I know, coming from a small and sometimes unknown country, some might find it more difficult to make a mark in this world, but I believe it’s not where you come from, but who you are as a person from within.”