Master of Many Trades

Actor Iresh Zaker
Talks to
Fauzia Sultana

Courtesy: IRESH ZAKER

Major in Economics and Anthropology and a minor in Math from Lawrence Univeristy, a Masters degree in Development Economics from University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and my geeky looking glasses, certainly make people think that I must have been a nerd all my life. But reminiscing my days at Scholastica, I realise I was gifted with a certain level of IQ which allowed me to pass in exams, even if I didn't study much.

During my university years, I was avidly involved in many activities--university choir, debating club, cultural clubs, student counseling. I struggle to find one but there are many incidents and experiences from my university life. The people, different cultures, diverse activities I was exposed to, while studying abroad, are what I believe I will hold on to for the rest of my life. Even though the ambience was multicultural, the one thing I realise they all shared was commonality.

I never planned nor thought of coming into acting; in fact I sort of drifted away from it. After completing Masters I returned to Bangladesh and worked as a voice artist for some time. So it was this one day that I went to the studio and I was offered to act for a natok. When I started my journey as an actor, I sort of had it planned that within a predetermined time span, if I managed to earn a name as an actor, I would continue acting. A commonplace remark that offspring of actors often face is that acting should be a piece of cake for us since it is in our blood. This is a misconception that people bear in mind for acting can be in anyone's blood, irrespective of whether the person's parents are actors or not.

To me, the biggest asset that an actor must possess is the confidence to face the camera and to act. Since I was exposed to acting all my life, because of my parents, I was aware of the basics. Besides acting, I am currently working as the Executive Director at Asiatic Marketing Communication Limited. Now that I enjoy acting, I wish to continue working in this field and take it to a higher level, by marketing and branding entertainment .

I have a wide range of passion--photography, cycling, trekking, etc. I seek to have a life that mixes and matches my aspirations with my passion. I believe that a creative person should not remain confined to a particular talent, but to be open to all creative influences. I find it pretty intriguing at the same time perplexing when faced with planning my future. I never planned to come into acting, but when I did I tried giving it my hundred percent. May be in the near future I might want to be an author or a photographer, but whatever it may be, I want to be really good at what I will be doing at that moment.