ANITA MAJUMDAR

Hometown
Port Moody, BC, Canada.

What is your ethnic background?
My parents were born and raised in India and are Bengalis, so I've inherited a Bengali-Indian background.

What inspires you?
That's hard to answer.  I think there's a very young Anita that still lives inside me.  She's about 6 years old and she always dreams she'll act and dance one day despite her shortcomings. But the Anita I am today doesn't need those things as badly as her younger self.  So it's a balance between my social conscience and pretty aesthetics that drive me to create the work I do.

What would you be doing if it isn't what acting?
I've asked myself that a lot.  I think I should have been a dancer.  I missed my calling when I was young.  I feel the fullest, the most passionate and the most satisfied when I work in dance.  I thought maybe I would go into advertising, but I think I only like the idea of that in theory.  The pressure of having to come up with a good "schtick" every other day is a little much for me.

How did your environment shape you?
I grew up in a small suburban town in BC, Canada my whole life. There were so few families of colour in Port Moody.  I had to fight to understand that it was ok to have two separate identities.  And that was tough.  I'm still learning that lesson.  But growing up without other South Asians in school really helped me figure out what was important to me as opposed to having it imposed upon me.  On the weekends, I'd see my South Asian family friends and we'd have this whole other world to talk about.  When I went to university, those two worlds collided.  I was suddenly 2 girls at the same time.

What do you want to be remembered for?
Simply being (more of less) a good person (whatever that means!).

Who's your hero? Why?
I get asked this and I never know how to respond.  I've never had one person who I said "that's who I want to be like" because in my thought process that's what a hero is.  I think there are great people who aren't famous and don't know about who do really great things in small ways every day.  I look up to so many people who shaped my life, for different reasons and they each have different aspects to them that I want to inside me one day.

Education
I did high school in Port Moody, went to the University of British Columbia (UBC) and got a degree in English, Theatre and South Asian Languages and then did the 3 year Acting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada.  I think of my dance education as a meandering path.  I started to study Kathak when I was 17 and danced in an ensemble at UBC where we did public gigs, then started to choreograph when I was at the National Theatre School, which was encouraged by my teachers.  I took Odissi when I graduated and I took some Bharatanatyam classes here and there.

What makes you tick?
I wish I knew.  A need to prove myself to the world?  To show every person who has ever doubted me that actually did manage to do something with my life? But that can't be right because that can only last so long.  So maybe passion?  Yeah, let's say passion.

What makes you happy?
Shopper's Drug Mart.  That sounds really vain and shallow, but again, it all comes back to this really little 6 year old Anita who felt so ugly because she didn't look like anyone at school or TV, but really just wanted to look like the pretty Bollywood stars or Kelly from 90210, but that wasn't possible.  I wasn't allowed to wear makeup for a long time and I always felt so ugly when I just wanted to feel pretty.  So when I'm down or need a pick me up, I look at Life Brand and makeup products and like the idea of being able to transform myself into something different.  Oh, I guess this is another thing that makes me tick.  Is it too late to add that on?

Tell me something about you that no one knows?

Well, very few people know about that Shopper's Drug Mart thing, but let me think ... I want to go sky diving before I turn 30. Is that really quarky though?

What social cause is most important to you?
Fighting for a woman's right to choose.  And I don't mean that just in regards to Pro-Choice activism.  I really think that a woman's free will and choice to make her own decisions whether they're right or wrong, so often she's made to feel that she doesn't have the right to make a mistake.  She has to be perfect and so she makes even bigger mistakes because someone else makes her decisions for her.

If you could change something what would it be?

Wow ... that's a big question.  Keeping this brief, I think I would move national funds in Asian countries to provide real social programs for their citizens instead of focusing on military operations.  There's so much undiscovered potential in Asia and I feel countries there don't realize how feeding, clothing and educating their own citizens would empower their nations.  Educating the poorest women in the most remote villages would strengthen the might of their respective countries so it would disable the west from taking advantage of them.

Recommended books
A Fine Balance, Kite Runner, Maps for Lost Lovers, A Complicated Kindness ... these are the ones that have been on my mind in the last while.  Oh and Blood Wedding!  It's a play, but wow!  Is it ever amazing to read.

Recommended CDs
Ok.  I fully admit to having the worst taste in music.  I've always
apologize for my taste in music, so that being said ... I've been doing tons of "Top 40" research for "The Misfit", so I hesitantly recommend Britney Spears' BLACKOUT.

I listen to a lot of South Asian music, and my friend was in this Pakistani music video called Sajni (I think?) by Jal.  Not a CD, but a song. Sorry. Bollywood CD's: Dil Se, Bombay, Rangeela ... anything by AR Rahman ... Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Saawariya ... the list goes on.

High school flash back
Walking into my first public speaking contest at Moody Junior.  I don't
even remember what the speech was about, but I was so nervous for havingmade it to the top 3.  My mom bought me this very “progressive" outfit from Le Chateau (before they changed over to glitter club wear for teens), with linen pants and this shirt that showed a bit of my belly button.  I didn't realize that the dress code had been cracking down on belly button shirts at our school, so I kept tugging down at my top during my speech.  I still came in 2nd, so here's to belly button shirts!

What does it mean to be Canadian
I don't mean to be literal about this, but I think a Canadian is someone
holds a Canadian passport.  The Canadian cultural identity has yet to be defined, and I still find it difficult to describe what being Canadian
means.  People have been trying to define the Canadian identity for decades and it still beats me.  Free health care (kind of)?  That can't be it.

What is your definition of 'Canadian Culture'?
A culture that knows all the words to the Canadian national anthem, cheers on Canadian sports teams even if they've never watched a sporting event a day in their lives and listens/ watches the CBC radio and/or television religiously.

What's your favourite colour, why?
Deep, saturated, blue.  I'm not sure why.  I think I don't hate what I see when I wear blue.

Where is your favourite place to go?
Home.  I feel the most relaxed at home. There's nowhere like it, but I rarely get to hang out there.