Rajan Velu

Rajan Velu is an actor whose career spans almost twenty years in Australia and overseas.  A graduate of Actors Centre Australia (ACA), Rajan moved to LA in 2008.  And with his credits including Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Brooklyn Nine-nine and Scandal,  Raj has carved a name for himself across stage and screen.  

After spending a decade splitting his time between Sydney and LA, Raj returned to Australia in 2018 where he’s appeared in home-grown series Doctor, Doctor, RFDS and Diary of an Uber Driver, alongside theatre productions such as Belvoir’s Counting & Cracking, Life of Galileo and Norm and Ahmed.  He’s also slated to appear in Belvoir’s The Jungle and Sea at the end of this year (COVID-willing).  In an industry as small as Australia’s, and amidst a global pandemic, that’s no small feat!

Diversity in casting is an emerging situation in Australia, and I was curious to hear about Raj’s experiences with it, after working overseas for so long.  It was cool to hear that Raj can see and feel changes in what’s being produced here, as well as the roles and opportunities that are coming his way.  May it continue to grow!

Our Headshots Session

Fittingly for such a creative soul, we shot around the historic wharves of Walsh Bay.  I’ve been coming here for decades (spending many years working as an usher at the STC!), and over that time have watched it transform into a beautiful arts precinct.  It never gets old for me.  Although thanks to La Niña, what should have been a sultry summer’s day became a stormy, waterlogged dash between awnings and rocky overhangs.  But the rain lit everything up, enriching the textures and moods we captured together.  

Raj said this of our time together:

“I hadn’t done a shoot in more than 8 years, and Emma made it so much fun.  She has a way of making our eyes tell a story which is exactly what I wanted!  I loved the whole experience.”

I so appreciated Raj’s willingness to play, to explore and to bring his vulnerability, strength and openness to our session together.