Biography

Shashi Balooja is an award winning actor,filmmaker, writer, director and producer. After working extensively on stage, television, and film, he produced, co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the 27-minute short film "Ariana", which won numerous awards including Best Story and Best Screenplay at the Italian Short Film Festival "arrivano i corti". He co-produced and acted in the Warner Bros. film "And Then Came Love" written by Caytha Jentis, starring Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt, Shashi is the executive producer, co-director, and lead actor of the feature film "Exposed" winning Best Feature Film and Best Feature Thriller at NYIFF (New York International Film Festival), which was recently released.

Recent acting roles in films include "Gametime" and "Sweet Pea". Television includes "Law and Order SVU", "Third Rock", "As the World Turns" and the new Amazon Prime #1 hit "The Other F Word".

Over the last 10+ years Mr. Balooja has starred in dozens of main stage productions and staged readings at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall, East Hampton,New York, and has been an integral part of the East End Theater community. Recent credits include "Equus" (director Tony Walton) with Alec Baldwin, "Moby Dick" with Peter Boyle (director Tony Walton), and starring in the title role "Julius Caesar" (director Josh Gladstone). He co-produced and starred in the off-broadway productions of August Strindberg's "Miss Julie" at The Blue Heron Theater, and most recently produced and starred in Tennessee William's "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel" at New World Stages.

Mr. Balooja is the founder and Executive Producer of Media at Large http://www.mediaatlarge.com #mediaatlarge formerly ABC Film & Video, LLC which has produced scores of films, television content, commercials, industrials, documentaries, theatrical and music videos at their 5th Avenue, 4,500sq.ft studio in midtown Manhattan. As voted by a panel of 200 angel investors and venture capitalists from the "Funding Post" in , ABC Film & Video was named "one of the top emerging companies under the leadership of actor Shashi Balooja" and touted on the Reuters Jumbotron in Times Square.

Shashi has been involved in, and continues successful philanthropic and fund-raising efforts and relationships with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, MTEAF (Maria Torres Emerging Artist Fund), The Public Theater, The All Stars Project, and The John Drew Theater at Guild Hall. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the arts organization Dorill Productions.

Shashi is an alumni of NBC Universal's and Outfest's by invitation only Fusion & Access LA Festival which includes symposiums addressing programming, and top level executive conferencing at NBCU for up and coming diversity oriented content creators, performers, directors and producers. He was one of the celebrity hosts of the Antigua Film Festival where he led workshops for aspiring native actors, filmmakers, producers and designers. He has headed industrials at Microsoft and Phizer, was a spokesperson for Lexus, and headed, consulted, work shopped, taught and mentored in corporate and performing arts sectors. Recent engagements include "Jumby Bay", a Rosewood 5 Star Resort project, on a private Island, for the top executives and management team based on Stephen Covey's "The 7 habits of Highly Successful People"

Mr Balooja is an Alumni of St. Mary's University (BComm. program in International Business and Marketing, and BSc. graduate of Marymount Manhattan College (NYC) with concentrations in Theatre, Critical Thinking and Management, Balooja also studied Film and Video Production and Humanities (French and Spanish) at NYU.

The DVD "shortsatlarge", a compilation of 5 films produced by Media at Large and starring Shashi Balooja will be released in January 2017.

Other projects in the works are (theatrical and film premieres) of "Out" by business partner Rain Pryor. Balooja was a lead producer of the highly acclaimed NYC off-Broadway world premiere of "Fried Chicken and Latkes" by Rain Pryor, at the National Black Theatre" which scored a Lortel Nomination and was a two time honoreeThe National Black Theatre Conference. .

He completed his first Canadian film "Subject 1" through his Toronto based company. The sci-fi TV series based on the film is in development.

Shashi was selected to attend, and is an Alumni of the Caribbean Tales Incubator (Toronto) to develop "Ariana" into the Feature Film "Mama Grace": subsequently successfully pitched it TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). He is subsequently the EP and one of the lead actors in the Canadian/Antiguan/US/Caribbean co-production of "Mama Grace" which begins pre-production in February 2017.

- IMDb mini biography by: Media at Large