Imagine this: You book a
pilot, film it, and then your character is summarily axed once the
show goes to series. For many actors, it might seem like a sweet opportunity
gone bad. For Navi Rawat, it was a case of everything working out
for the best.
The actor was cast in the
pilot for Fox's Hawaii-set nighttime soap North Shore, but her character
was cut when the network picked the show up. Fortunately, Rawat had
an ace up her sleeve: She had also landed a recurring gig on CBS's
Numb3rs, which revolves around an FBI agent (Rob Morrow) who recruits
his math genius brother (David Krumholtz) to help solve crimes. She
plays Amita, a graduate student studying mathematics. "I really
felt like Numb3rs was the one that was more right for me. It was a
different character for me, and I was really interested in that, so
it worked out perfectly," she says. Her character was initially
supposed to be a regular on Numb3rs, so the actor thought she was
out of the running because of her commitment to the other show. "I
thought it was over, but then they couldn't find anyone for the part,
so they ended up letting me do it as a guest star," she says.
The actor hopes that, should
Numb3rs get picked up for another season--North Shore,
incidentally, has been cancelled--her character might
achieve series-regular status. "I really like the
show, and I like the actors and the producers," she
says. "I also like the character. I feel like it's
a positive character, because she's an intelligent female,
and she's in college getting an education. I feel like
it's a positive role model for people. So I would definitely
want to pursue that in a regular pattern if they offer
it to me.
TV audiences are already
familiar with Rawat, a graduate of New York University's Tisch school
of the Arts,thanks to her recurring roles on 24 and The O.C. Moviegoers,
meanwhile, might recognize her as the daughter of Ben Kingsley's character
in 2003's The House of Sand and Fog. She learned at least one important
lesson from the acclaimed actor. "We were doing some scenes where
we had to dance, and it was difficult. You have to dance, and then
act.... Something he said to me that really stuck with me [was], 'Well,
this scene is hard.' And I was, like, 'Yeah.' And he was, like, 'Just
let it be hard.' [He was] approaching the work for what it was and
not trying to make everything easy or simple. That was really an invaluable
lesson, because there are some things that you do that are more difficult,
and you just need to let it be what it is and not try to turn it into
something."
Rawat added to her film resume recently with
the Project Greenlight horror movie, Feast, in which she plays a
character named Heroine. Having the making of a movie documented
by Project Greenlight, currently airing on Bravo, means that every
part of the filmmaking process is exposed to a national television
audience. A recent episode focused on her landing the part and revealed
that some involved with the film--including the director--were vehemently
opposed to her being cast in the role.
"I was aware of that, some of it, during
the casting process, because I knew that the studio really liked
me and the casting director really liked me, but I knew that the
director didn't really think I was right for the part," she
says. "But definitely when I saw the episode, initially, I
was really, really hurt.... But I don't know, I guess that's just
part of it, and you kind of have to get over it, which is how I
approached it when I saw that. I was, like, 'Well, you know, it
sucks, it stung for a minute, but just let it go.' This business
is full of rejection and full of people not wanting you--I don't
think you can hold onto that, because I think it will just drown
you if you do."
Rawat seems to have won the director over since
that episode was filmed, however--she relates that he called her
shortly after it aired. "[He said], 'I'm sorry it came off
so bad, and you're wonderful in the movie, and the younger female
audience who's seen the movie loves your character, and you did
a great job.'"
Rawat, who is of German and East Indian descent,
is often described as "exotic-looking," a trait that sometimes
hurts actors looking to be cast in a broad range of roles. Given
the variety of parts she's played, however, it seems to have only
helped her. "People seem to feel that I'm able to pass for
a multitude of ethnicities," she says. "So I played Hispanic,
I played Iranian, and now I'm playing Indian. Then there [are] a
lot of parts that I've gotten that haven't been ethnic-specific:
24 wasn't, I did a TV movie called Thoughtcrimes that wasn't, and
Feast wasn't. I think they wanted somebody who was kind of exotic-looking,
but it wasn't [specific]. I mean, obviously, there [are] certain
parts when they want the girl next door or someone who's blonde
or whatever; it's not gonna go to me. But that's okay."
