About Farah
Actor • Producer • Voiceover Artist • Educator
Originally from Bombay, India, Farah is an Actor, Producer, Voiceover artist, Mentor/Educator, and Consultant based in NY. She was recently nominated for a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actress, alongside theater veteran Anna Deavere Smith.
Farah's journey from Bombay to New Yorkhas been profiled in Umbrage Edition's coffee table book and winner of 6 National Awards, Green Card Stories - one of 50 profiles of recent immigrant stories from all over the world.
Farah has an MFA in Theater from Sarah Lawrence College (NY) and is a two-year recipient of the Fezana Performing Arts Award. Farah’s Persian heritage and Indian upbringing give her a unique versatility that allow her to represent a wide spectrum of Middle Eastern/Asian roles in Theater, Film and Television. She is fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and moves freely between accents - Indian, Middle-Eastern, Standard British and Standard American. Her work has been seen on stage and on screen in South Asia and the United States. Farah has lent her voice for commercials, films and PSA's. She has also narrated numerous audiobooks through Audible and RVM Sounds.
Always active in new play development, Farah has worked at The Public Theater, The Actors Studio, Labyrinth Theatre, Rising Circle, The Lark, Ma-Yi Theatre, 2G, Red Bull Theatre, among others. A proud member of AEA | SAG-AFTRA.
An avid proponent of arts education, Farah has been a teaching artist and mentor for over 10 years. Using theater, Shakespeare and drama therapy techniques, Farah has designed programs promoting literacy, violence/bullying prevention, conflict-resolution, public speaking and personality development. In 2012, she was part of the International Theater and Literacy Project's volunteer team that went to Tanzania to do a theater and playwrighting workshop at 3 schools in Arusha, and is currently their resident teaching artist. She also volunteers at the 52nd Street Project in NYC.
As a producer and artist, Farah has been an active voice with regards to Diversity challenges within the arts community. From 2012-2014 Farah was part of the leadership running Rising Circle Theater Collective, a NY-based theater company dedicated to showcasing the works of artists of color on the American Stage. During the time, Farah conceived and produced programming that brought together artist communities, theater artistic directors and thought leaders in facilitated dialogues to address the current dynamic, and establish strategic actionable tools to create a more inclusive artistic representation on our stages. She has created Empowerment and Self Expression workshops for Rising Circle's education program, QUp geared towards Asian American teenage girls.
She recently conceived, produced and hosted an initiative for South Asian Film Lab that culminated as a showcase event at New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) promoting the works of South Asian filmmakers and introducing them to the larger community.
In 2014 Farah was invited by the Asian American Arts Alliance as an Artist Ambassador panelist to discuss 'Beyond Puck: Performing Shakespeare in Asian America’, and to a roundtable discussion at Ford Foundation around diversity, cultural equity and social justice.
Constantly looking for ways to connect Art and Social Change, Farah brings her theater training to other professions as coach and consultant - She has led and worked with all tiers of seniority, training groups and individuals in Diversity and Inclusion Awareness, Leadership Strategy, Communication skills, Presentation and Public Speaking, and Feedback Skills Development. She is currently developing a program specifically focused on creating empowered, socially conscious leaders.
