Dileep Rao
Encyclopedia
Dileep A. Rao is an American
actor who has appeared in feature films and television series. He starred in Sam Raimi
's horror film Drag Me to Hell
(2009), James Cameron
's science fiction film Avatar (2009), and Christopher Nolan
's thriller Inception
(2010).
to India
n parents, a physicist mother and an engineer father. and grew up in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, Denver, Colorado
, and Claremont, California
. He has one sister who is a professor at NYU
. He graduated from Claremont High School
and the University of California, San Diego
, with a B.A.
, later receiving an M.F.A.
from the American Conservatory Theater
in San Francisco where he was a classmate of Anna Belknap
and Elizabeth Banks
.
Rao's first role after graduating was in the American premiere of Indian Ink
by Tom Stoppard. Rao moved to Los Angeles and began working in regional theater including at the Berkeley Rep, South Coast Repertory
, and for the Manhattan Theater Club.
He competed on Jeopardy!
on June 7, 2002, and won $34,400. On June 8, 2008, Rao was randomly selected from over 1600 entrants to play the NPR
Weekend Edition
Sunday puzzle on air with Will Shortz
.
of Dileep Rao's movies was over $363 million and $1.2 billion worldwide. This is an extremely high average, especially for an actor who has appeared in multiple movies. Among actors tracked by Box Office Mojo
, the highest average for an actor with multiple movies is Emma Watson
with an average of $252 million. Lee Unkrich
is reported with an "average" of over $400 million, but this is from a voice appearance in a single film.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor who has appeared in feature films and television series. He starred in Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
's horror film Drag Me to Hell
Drag Me to Hell
Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American horror film, directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Sam and Ivan Raimi. The plot focuses on loan officer Christine Brown , who tries to impress her boss by refusing to extend a loan to a gypsy woman by the name of Mrs. Ganush...
(2009), James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
's science fiction film Avatar (2009), and Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
's thriller Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
(2010).
Life and career
Rao was born in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n parents, a physicist mother and an engineer father. and grew up in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, and Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
. He has one sister who is a professor at NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He graduated from Claremont High School
Claremont High School (Claremont, California)
Claremont High School is a public secondary school situated in Claremont, California, USA. Part of the Claremont Unified School District, it is a California Distinguished School, a two-time national Blue Ribbon School of Excellence , and recently a nationally recognized International Baccalaureate...
and the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, later receiving an M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
in San Francisco where he was a classmate of Anna Belknap
Anna Belknap
Anna Belknap is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Detective Lindsay Monroe on CSI: NY.-Personal life:...
and Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...
.
Rao's first role after graduating was in the American premiere of Indian Ink
Indian Ink (play)
Indian Ink is a 1995 play by Tom Stoppard , based on his 1991 radio play In the Native State. Indian Ink had its first performance at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and opened at the Aldwych Theatre, London, on February 27, 1995. The production was directed by Peter Wood and designed by Carl...
by Tom Stoppard. Rao moved to Los Angeles and began working in regional theater including at the Berkeley Rep, South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
, and for the Manhattan Theater Club.
He competed on Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
on June 7, 2002, and won $34,400. On June 8, 2008, Rao was randomly selected from over 1600 entrants to play the NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
Sunday puzzle on air with Will Shortz
Will Shortz
Will Shortz is an American puzzle creator and editor, and currently the crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.-Early life and education:...
.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 2009 in film The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note... |
Drag Me to Hell Drag Me to Hell Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American horror film, directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Sam and Ivan Raimi. The plot focuses on loan officer Christine Brown , who tries to impress her boss by refusing to extend a loan to a gypsy woman by the name of Mrs. Ganush... |
Rham Jas | |
| Avatar | Dr. Max Patel | ||
| 2010 2010 in film The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and... |
Inception Inception Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19... |
Yusuf | Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Scream Award Scream Awards The Scream Awards is an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films. Originally only having Scream Queen and Heroic Performance awards for actors, the personnel awards have expanded to include actors and actresses of all three recognized genres. In addition,... for Best Ensemble Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble |
High average box office
As of February 22, 2011, the average U.S. domestic box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
of Dileep Rao's movies was over $363 million and $1.2 billion worldwide. This is an extremely high average, especially for an actor who has appeared in multiple movies. Among actors tracked by Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
, the highest average for an actor with multiple movies is Emma Watson
Emma Watson
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress and model.Watson rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2011, she starred in all eight Harry Potter...
with an average of $252 million. Lee Unkrich
Lee Unkrich
Lee Unkrich is an American director and film editor. He is a longtime member of the creative team at Pixar, where he started in 1994 as a film editor. He later began directing, first as co-director of Toy Story 2...
is reported with an "average" of over $400 million, but this is from a voice appearance in a single film.
TV roles
- StandoffStandoff (TV series)Standoff is an American drama series that premiered on the Fox network on September 5, 2006. Created by Craig Silverstein, the series focused on an FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit whose members negotiated hostage situations and shared relationships. The show was produced by 20th Century Fox Television...
as Robert (2006) - Brothers & Sisters as Arlo Natterson (2008)