Rajesh Nahar was born to upper middle class Jain parents in Kolkata,India. Although his family
was devoutly Jain but they were amazingly open-minded and open to new ideas. Raj had a lot
of freedom. He grew up learning 4 languages (Hindi, Bengali, Marwari & English) from a very
young age. Currently he speaks some Spanish & Portuguese pronouncing them very well.
He cherishes Eastern philosophy but is equally drawn to Western Individualism. He had secular
ideas even as early as when he was ten. He always believed in “God” but was skeptical to say
the least of any institutionalized religion. He cherishes his unbiased views about religion and
philosophy but takes criticism painlessly. He was an all-rounder good student equally excelling
in the arts and the sciences.

Rajesh has a great singing voice and sang popular Bollywood songs, Rabindrasangeet,
Nazrulgeeti, and dabbled in Indian classical music. He feels “our sweetest songs are those that
sing the saddest thoughts” and melancholic songs are his passion. As a teenager he cut an
audiocassette in Bengali in celebration of 300 years of Kolkata that was played on the radio. His
love for acting appeared at a very early age. He tried to see every Bollywood film that was
released and acted scenes from them starting at around the age of ten. No one in his family
knew for a long time that he was acting almost daily behind closed doors. Starting around age
ten he would shut himself in a room or the bathroom and act in front of the mirror for hours. He
was a closet actor for years. As a teenager he started doing amateur theater and luckily always
played lead roles. Then came Medical school. No more time for acting.

Early phase in the US:
After completing medical education he came to Miami to visit his aunt in 1991. He decided to
stay in the US, which was his childhood dream. He passed his US medical exams and was in
the 99th percentile. He trained at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan to become an Oncologist/
Hematologist in 1999. He met his Indian-born all-American wife in NYC in 1999. He practiced
medicine in Lansing, MI, Syracuse, NY and then in Wilkes-Barre, PA before finally moving to
South Jersey. It was in Wilkes-Barre that his life took a turn. His colleague Dr.Greenwald made
a short film in 2009 which was seen by 50 odd people who were effusive. This rekindled the
actor in Raj.

Acting career in the US:
Raj went to Orlando in June 2010 to participate in the biannual AMTC competition. From there
he got callbacks from top agencies including Don Buchwald (NY) and Wallis (LA). He took
acting classes in NY and Mumbai. In 2011 he acted in 12 films (4 feature). His music video “Raj
The Rapper” was nominated at the 168 Film Fest. in LA in 2011. Juggling with his medical
career he couldn’t make it to most auditions.
Acting in Bollywood:
In mid-2012 Raj moved to Mumbai. Between 2012 to 2015 he acted in innumerable TV serials
that included recurring role in a highly popular BBC show “Kaisi Yeh Yariyan”. He did small parts
in big banner films like “Ungli” and “Shamitabh”. He is really proud of his challenging lead role in
the English version of the world-renowned Marathi play “Sakharam Binder” with female leads
Sharbani Mukherjee and Gulki Joshi. He acted in multiple music videos and was also the singer
in one of them and singer/composer in the other. Raj is proud of playing the lead in
“Screwdriver” directed by internationally acclaimed and international-award winning director
Vikkramm Chandirramani. He also did TV commercials and promos in Mumbai.
Back to the US:
He returned to the US in 2016 and is practicing Oncology while continuing to pursue his passion
(acting) whenever time and opportunity permit. His feature films “Catskill Park” (as Dr. Charles)
and “Induced Effect” (as Arabic motel manager) are on multiple platforms. His best part so far is
a lead role in a Roger Spottiswoode film “Either Side Of Midnight” shot in NYC (2019-2020). In
2020 he played 5 different characters in a play “The Laramie Project” in Atlantic City,NJ. His
ultimate dream is to be an international versatile actor while practicing Oncology. He considers
himself Oscar material and waiting for “the part”. He believes science and art can be embraced
harmoniously and desires to exemplify that.