Today we’d like to introduce you to Shahroze Khan.
Shahroze, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a 21-year-old actor, content creator, and student. I was born in Orlando, Florida and moved to Houston, Texas in 2008 where I am currently based out of. I started off in the film world during high school in 2012 where I competed in annual short film competitions. At the time, I was just participating in them with friends for fun, but after I graduated, I realized that I really enjoyed acting and creating films so I decided to give acting a serious try. I started working professionally in the film industry back in 2015 and my first gig as a freelancer was in a feature film shooting in Houston named “More Than Enough” (Originally named “Good After Bad”). I was supposed to be a background character in the film along with all the other extras, but in the middle of shooting, the director pulled me out and told me that I’d be getting a featured role. I remember being so excited at that moment and right then and there I made the decision that I would pursue a career in the film industry as an actor and make it one of my life’s goals.
From then on, I worked on TV commercials for Adidas with Houston Rockets star James Harden, Doritos, and a couple other short films and videos. A couple of months later, I was blessed to sign with a talent agency named TL Modeling. I was represented by them for a couple of years and during that time, I had the opportunity to work on season 2 of MTV’s “Video Love” which aired worldwide on MTV International. This led me to my next gig which was a Bollywood music video called “Party Tera Bhai Dega” from artist Karan Singh Arora (KSA) which was released on one of the biggest music labels in India named T-Series. I was cast as a lead role and the video amassed over 3.1 million views. I also had the opportunity to work on a feature film titled “Roxanne” when I was cast in a supporting role. This film was particularly important to me because it spoke out against Islamophobia along with other negative societal issues. From that point forward I worked on multiple Feature Films, Short Films, TV Shows, Web series, Commercials, Videos, and much more. That brings me to where I’m at today, and I continue to partake in as many film projects as I can to keep elevating my career. My goal is to work hard every day to progress and grow my career as an actor and to use my talents and resources to help make the world a better place.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. When it comes to acting, you have to be truly passionate and fully willing to put in the hard work, dedication, and commitment in order to even do it. When one goes into this business they have to keep in mind that income won’t be stable and that jobs and opportunities won’t be abundant in the beginning stages of their career. Since I am currently also a university student, time management and prioritizing my schoolwork along with my acting work has to be very carefully managed and done.
Rejection is one of the biggest things that I had to deal with early on and undoubtedly still until this day in my career. I had to learn through experience that you will be told “No” by many people in the industry. There have been countless auditions I have been to that I thought I did well in and never heard back from, or they straight up just told me they were looking for a different type of actor. Now, this is where the passion comes into play. If you’re truly passionate, you can’t let it get you down and be a source of discouragement. Now, of course, after situations like this before I’ve thought to myself “Is all this even worth it?” or “Am I good enough?” but then I remember the crazy struggles that multiple A-list actors had to go through in their lives and it inspires me to be great. I’ve learned to take these situations as a positive growing experience and use them to work on my craft even harder and do better next time. Also, being ethnic, the availability of roles in films, shows, and other projects are automatically reduced. Although I definitely do see ethnic diversity in the film industry being pushed and promoted which is a great sign for the future, I do believe that it can be expanded even more to give a huge amount of talented aspiring ethnic actors and actresses a positive chance.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Shahroze Khan – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as an actor and what sets you apart from others.
I am a working actor, and have previous experience from being in short and feature films, TV and web commercials, TV shows, music videos, and more. I’ve worked on multiple projects such as “More Than Enough” (Feature Film), “They Can’t Deport Us All!” (Netflix Special), “Roxanne” (Feature Film), “Lone Star Deception” (Feature Film), “Day 5” season 2 (TV Show), “Track 1” (Short Film), “Million Dollars, But…” season 5 (Web series), “Beats Headphones” (Commercial), and more. I’m currently in production with “Capitol: Cold Turkey” (Feature Film), and “Project Flatline” (Short Film), and just recently wrapped up a commercial for The Houston Astros, and a medical training video for Baylor University. I continue to network, train, and make as many connections as I can in the industry to be able to grow my talents and get to that next level in my career. Over the relatively short amount of time, I’ve been working in the industry, I’ve been grateful to have worked with stars such as Billy Burke, Maddie Hasson, Eric Roberts, Anthony Ray Parker, Dabier, Gabrielle Elyse, Chingo Bling, James Harden, Timecop1983, Karan Singh Arora, and many others. My goal, which I will achieve, is to be working with even bigger stars and actors/actresses in the future.
I believe what sets me apart aside from being racially diverse and multilingual is my drive, work ethic, and passion for acting. There is a quote that I’ve heard before that says “Do one thing every day that pushes you toward your dreams”. This quote really stuck with me from the moment I heard it. As a result, I try to do things every day which are related to acting and film. For example, one thing I do every day is wake up and go through all the casting websites and groups to have the chance to submit for a film project. When I’m not submitting to casting calls, recording a video audition or going to an in-person one, filming for a project or training, I enjoy getting to know new people and network with everyone because that is extremely important as well. The saying goes “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know”. This is also one of the quotes that have been stuck in my mind ever since I’ve heard it. Overall, I just have fun working and absolutely love and strive to be productive with my film work as much as possible every day.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I like most about Houston is that the people are very nice and friendly. Everyone is looking out for each other on film sets and there’s just this positive vibe you have to experience for yourself to fully understand. The film industry here is still relatively small compared to other locations such as Austin, Atlanta or New Orleans. As a result, you always end up seeing a lot of the same people throughout multiple different shoots. This is one reason why networking and being friendly to everyone is very important because when you constantly run into the same actors, actresses, and crew, you end up becoming friends with them and surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who want to grow and succeed as much as you play a huge part in being successful in this industry, and any other type of industry for that matter. Also, be sure to always keep in mind the people who helped you and where your roots are because those are the ones you want to take up with you when you reach that next career level. Another thing I like about Houston is that there are so many talented actors, actresses and filmmakers here that we could easily compete with big market film cities. Unfortunately, since the film industry isn’t as big here, there aren’t as many film projects that come through when compared with other cities but there’s definitely still a lot going on.
This brings me to what I like the least about Houston. As mentioned above, the industry is small and that’s partly because of the film incentives program which isn’t as good as other places. This takes a toll on us as a whole, but I have hope that this can be improved and implemented soon because Houston definitely has immense potential to become a film hub. There are so many beautiful locations for filmmakers to use. Putting all those to use correctly would be of great benefit and would boost our economy as well. Additionally, the traffic here gets really bad especially during rush hour and there are always accidents which slow down traffic even more, plus it’s always hot nowadays. Now, regardless of these things being said, I’ve been living here for many years and Houston is my home. It’s where my acting career started and I will forever be grateful for all my past and future acting and film experiences that I’ve had and will have. I will definitely be representing Houston wherever my career takes me.
Contact Info:
- Email: Shahrozekhan252@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blazin_roze/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shahroze3
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/blazin_roze/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7768678/
Image Credit:
Ahmed Gul, Sukriti G. and Isabella G.
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