ISHAN DAVÉ is a Toronto-based film, television, and theatre performer who’s sixteen-year professional career has led him across Canada, Europe and the United States. He is a multiple Canadian Screen Award & Dora Award nominee, and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.Current streamable film & television performances include Kim’s Convenience (Netflix/CBC Gem), Slasher: Solstice (Netflix), Hudson & Rex (CityTV), and Mouthpiece (Patricia Rozema). Upcoming works include ‘Untitled Sugar Daddy Drama’ (Kelly McCormack, Wendy Morgan).
Ishan is also a proud associate artist with the Toronto-based performance collective It Could Still Happen, and a natural ink-maker.
With Kim’s Convenience progressing through its current fourth season and Ishan’s character being at the centre of Janet’s love triangle this season, I thought it was an opportune time to catch up with the actor. Specifically, I to get his insights on his character and the show’s impact on Canadian culture.
Read through the interview below and share your thoughts on it in the comments section below!
Abbas Karimjee: Lets discuss your appointment to the role of Raj. Could you please walk us your experience through the initial process?
ISHAN DAVÉ: It was an audition with the Canadian casting legend Deirdre Bowen!
AK: Have you been able to relate to Raj?
ID: The actor Michael Greyeyes gave an interview on Q where he said Native actors are often working from inside a system to expand it, to bring it towards their subjectivity. I am of course not Indigenous and I would never compare my journey as an East Indian actor to Michael Greyeyes’ journey or to that of any Native actor. However, there is something deeply true about this sentiment for me. It is rare to be a part of a show that allows for a multi-dimensional experience of a character, when one’s skin color has not been at the center of the dominant culture for 160 years. In other words, a character with a sense of struggle, a sense of stakes with joy and despair, an inherent problem. So often, and still, characters of color are cast as foils that advance the story arcs of the sophisticated white leads with the real emotional dilemmas–
I mean, the Canadian Screen Award Nominees for 2020 were just released and out of the television ‘Lead’ Acting Categories, 3 actors are people-of-color (out of 20 nominees).
With Raj, I feel that the creators of Kim’s are invested in a character with a lot happening in his heart. When I approach the character I always try to bring myself inside it, to extend and explore what Raj’s dilemmas are, and this approach has only been welcomed!
AK: In the season 3 of finale of Kim’s Convenience, Raj broke off his engagement with his fiancé in order to pursue a romantic relationship with Janet, whose heart he previously broke by treating as her a casual fling. Do you think that this shows that Raj has developed and what you would like to see happen between him and Janet?
ID: Love is complicated. My friend Claudia Dey wrote a book called Heartbreaker and in the epigraph she has an Alice Notley quote which is
“in love, there is no because”.
I think about this quote all the time because I think we always want fast and reliable answers, especially with love, and they are just not there.
On the surface Raj can be seen as a cheater and a quitter. But if we look at his context, he comes from an oppressive family structure and he is deeply confused. So, I believe we meet Raj at a turning point in his life (which of course happens largely off screen).
After he’s finally appeased his parents’ wishes and become a Doctor, he is, in a sense, free. He is figuring things out as they happen, and he doesn’t quite have the words for his feelings because in conservative immigrant families, feelings are not given primacy. And so, the present moment often betrays him, when it comes to words.
But at his heart Raj is a person who wants something to break. He wants liberation. In Janet, he sees a rebellious soul and he is drawn to it; her wit, her irreverence, her depth and intensity, her beauty, and her awkwardness inside it. It inspires him, and he does not yet know how to come close to it with a mindful heart. He’s a bit desperate, for the time being. But at the centre of Raj’s world is the feeling that he and Janet have more in common than they both realize.
AK: While Kim’s Convenience focuses heavily on Kim’s family, it also showcases people from other ethnicities such as your character from the South Asian community as well as African Canadians, Arabs and Caucasians. Do you think the show has both reflected and impacted Canadian culture and if yes, how so?
ID: I think Kim’s is a highly innovative show that will be referenced, cited, and watched for generations. Hopefully it will also act as a springboard for many other shows in the future. The show bridges class divides as well as racial divides and I know people feel that very deeply. It is my lived experience based on who writes to me on the internet, and who stops me in the street. Almost always, someone expresses that it’s great to finally see their ethnicity reflected on TV.
AK: What are some of your favorite memories from working on Kim’s Convenience on screen and/or off screen?
ID: There was a moment when Andrea, Soma & I were sitting on the beach while filming season 3. The crew were setting up for the next moment and we had a small break. The three of us were looking out at the water and joking around and I felt especially lucky in that moment. Though, on the set of Kim’s which more resembles a motley crew of a family, I feel lucky constantly.
AK: You are an award-winning actor who has been on countless successful programs. What advice do you have for those who are members of visible minority groups and others in general who wish to pursue a career in the Canadian entertainment industry? Were there any specific obstacles you had to overcome to achieve the success you enjoy today?
ID:It doesn’t matter how much or little experience you have; your integrity is a human right.Do not be afraid of rocking the boat if you’re uncomfortable with how you’re being treated. Because no one will manage that for you, except you.
It’s also important to know that you don’t have to accept any job that comes your way. The industry is deeply saturated, as saturated as our World of stories, and other opportunities will arise that suit your soul. You don’t have to be a “token” bit part in someone else’s unaware story. Seriously. You don’t! Skip the pay check and eat out less for the next month. You’ll feel better.
There is an unhealthy trend with acting and performers, a perception that any project will lead us closer to our dreams. I remember hearing a Charlie Kaufman interview once and he said, people hire you for what they see you do, not what you don’t do. In this way, you will be asked to do more of what you’re seen in. This is how laws of attraction operate.
I’ve always found this to be true and in this story saturated industry, it’s a bit naïve to believe that my bellboy role on COLLISION 4.0! will get me in the room with Gus Van Sant or Claire Denis or Sofia Coppola, etc. So may as well set the foundation of choices with genuine love than for “opportunity.”
Of course there are always exceptions and it’s a case-by-case situation, but that’s generally how I strive to treat my career.
AK: Do you have a message for fans of Kim’s Convenience?
ID: Thank you for your time, love, and attention. You are what makes everything worth it.
(& don’t give up on Raj. He is hope that men can change!)
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