I was born in Bombay and had a nomadic upbringing because my father was a pilot with the Indian Air Force. It was a sad childhood because I never stayed long enough to make the life-long friends some people have, and it was also a happy one because I was able to embarrass myself and move on.
It was during my sad/happy childhood that I realized that what I wanted more than anything was to stand on stage and have people applaud me. This dawned upon me as I watched the 1980 Miss Universe Pageant on TV. It is a matter of coincidence that I realized I wanted to be a very tall, very blond, blue-eyed woman at that same moment.
Then one rainy night in 2001, around the time I moved to New York, I took an Improv class with a lady (I use this term loosely) called Holly Mandel and finally found something I wanted to be good at. Improv helped me find my feet as a performer and as a writer. My teachers include Mona Mansour and Scott Prendergast, Armando Diaz at the Magnet Theatre, as well as several teachers at The Upright Citizens Brigade.
As a performer I have done it all – stage, TV, film and yes even YouTube. I act, improvise, stand-up, and if asked nicely, will shut-up and bend over. My performing credits include improvised shows, sketch comedy (The Kat and Rad Show, Improvolution Sketch Comedy), a blink and you miss me spot on Comedy Central’s Instant Comedy, two independent films (Homeland, The Triumph of William Henry Harrison) an off-Broadway play (A First Class Man) and a one-woman show (Unladylike: The pitfalls of propriety).
I also write a blog (www.radvazblog.com) and the things I write about include stories from my life, the painful truth about being a woman, and daily observations of what irritates the shit out of me. So don’t piss me off or I will write about it in a really funny way and then everyone will be on my side.
I am a fledgling practitioner of yoga and power-lifting, speak English and Hindi, and love reality TV to the point that I am slightly embarrassed by it.