Kailash Surendranath believed in me and my talent when I was just 19, and he gave me my first big commercial and thereafter worked with me on 25 jingles which really made people notice my work in the ad world.
I was seen dancing at school by a director, who asked me to be in a TV play. And it had a huge impact. So I think that's what really started me off.
I was so lucky and blessed to have gotten 'White Chicks' so early into my career.
I was offered my first film right after my 10th board exams. Back then, I didn't even know they made films in the South. Films, I thought, were either in Hindi or English.
There was a modeling agency in my little town where I got my start, but the opportunity came to work in Japan when I was fourteen. My mom went with me until I was seventeen. Her only stipulation was that I had to keep my schoolwork up. My mom was great. She is still my best friend.
When I was growing up in San Francisco, one of the experiences that changed my life was my first paid internship - a summer job at The Family School.
Brando's a family friend. His mother gave my father a shot to be in a play at the Omaha Community Playhouse. That was the first production he was in.
My family was very supportive of my acting. They didn't really have a choice because I got jobs acting before anyone could really say anything. It paid my way through college and helped my family out.
'Star Trek' came along fairly early. And I don't know what they saw in me that said Captain Kruge, because I hadn't done anything remotely like that, but it worked out.
My college life was brief because I started working for my debut film when I was in eleventh standard. But I have no regrets, as I stayed in touch with my friends who keep briefing me about the drama in the college. The opportunity to get into showbiz was so exciting that I couldn't let it pass by.
To play in the Champions League is an experience a player of 33 may not have had in his whole career. To be doing that at 18... well, it's such a bonus.
I was still only 19 when I went to Scotland, but it was a good loan move for me to play those extra games.
