Avan Jogia

Avan Tudor Jogia (born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor, activist and director, who first came to prominence with his portrayal of Danny Araujo in the 2006 biographical television film A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story. After moving to the United States, he has since had significant roles in television series', such as Ben Stark in Caprica (2009–10), Beck Oliver in Victorious (2010–13), Danny Desai in Twisted (2013–14), and Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the miniseries Tut (2015). Jogia's numerous film credits, include Finding Hope Now (2010), Ten Thousand Saints (2015), and I Am Michael (2015). In 2011, he co-founded the LGBT online organization Straight But Not Narrow, which seeks to shape the viewpoints of teenagers and adults on matters pertaining to the LGBT community. Amongst Jogia's current projects, is the 2016 comedy film, The Outskirts and Last Teenagers of the Apocalypse, a web series he has directed.

Life and career

1992–2006: Early life and career beginnings

Jogia was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. His father is a British Indian expatriate of Gujarati ethnicity, who immigrated to Canada, and his mother is of English, Welsh and German descent.^[1] Jogia is the younger brother of Ketan, a music producer in London.^[2][3][4] Besides English, Jogia learned to speak some Gujarati and French.^[5]

Until the age of 16, Jogia was a student at Killarney Secondary School. He left school during the 10th grade in order to pursue acting full-time; at this point in time, Jogia had already amassed a number of small television credits.^[1] By the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles, United States, on the trial-basis that he would land a role within a six-month period – or return to schooling.^[6]

Jogia has cited British actor Tim Curry as one of his early acting inspirations, particularly Curry's role as Long John Silver in the 1996 musical adventure comedy film, Muppet Treasure Island. British actor Sir Ben Kingsley is another of Jogia's inspirations; the two would later appear in the 2015 miniseries Tut, and work together on the 2016 short film Of Dogs and Men.^[7]

2006–09: Minor roles in film and television

His first role came in 2006, when he portrayed Danny Araujo –the younger brother of teenage transgender woman Gwen Araujo– in the biographical television film A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story, directed by Agnieszka Holland. In 2007, he had a recurring role in The CW television sitcom Aliens in America as the character Sam, and also appeared in the television movie Devil's Diary.

Jogia next appeared in the 2008 Nickelodeon network original film Gym Teacher: The Movie, as Champ Sinclair, a role opposite Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor Christopher Meloni. He returned to the network the following year, starring in the 2009 film Spectacular! as Tajid, alongside future Victorious co-star Victoria Justice.^[8]

2009–14: Victorious, Twisted and other projects

From 2009 to 2010, Jogia had a recurring role in the television series Caprica, a spin-off of Battlestar Galactica, on Syfy. He had been cast in the role of Ben Stark in August 2008, with production of the series' pilot episode completed by the conclusion of that year.^[9] Caprica was shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.^[3]

In late 2009, Jogia joined the cast of Nickelodeon television program Victorious.^[10] Starring alongside Victoria Justice, Ariana Grande, and Elizabeth Gillies, Jogia played Beck Oliver, the boyfriend of Jade West (Gillies).^[11] This was the actor's first main role in a television series; a role, which lasted from the series' inception in March 2010, through to the conclusion of the fourth and final season of the show in 2013. Jogia also appeared as Oliver in the Nickelodeon film, iParty with Victorious, a Victorious crossover movie with iCarly.

Throughout his tenure on Victorious, Jogia starred in various films. In 2010, he appeared in the drama film Triple Dog,^[12] and the gang-crime film Finding Hope Now (filmed in 2009) as the lead character, Santos Delgado.^[13] Jogia later directed and starred in Alex, a short film; this marked his first project he directed.^[14] During the following year, he appeared in the 2012 Nickelodean television movie Rags, along with Keke Palmer and Drake Bell, where Jogia portrayed Finn Covington.^[15]

Jogia was cast in the lead role of Danny Desai on the ABC Family mystery–thriller series Twisted (originally titled Socio), in October 2012.^[16] The role saw Jogia opposite main cast members Maddie Hasson and Kylie Bunbury, and supporting cast members including Denise Richards and Sam Robards.^[17] The series pilot was greenlighted in August 2012, and was filmed in October in New York City.^[18] In February 2013, ABC Family ordered the show as a series^[19] and production commenced in Studio City the following month, on April 3, 2013.^[20][21] On the themes of the series, Jogia remarked, "Twisted is similar to Pretty Little Liars in that it's about trying to find out who did it, but it's more about the human relationships between characters and the strain that things can put on them. It's also a little bit of a social commentary piece, because it covers very timely issues."^[22] The series premiered on June 11, 2013 and ran for 19 episodes; for his role as Desai, Jogia received two nominations at the 2013 and 2014 Teen Choice Awards, in the categories "Summer TV Star: Male" and "Actor: Drama", respectively.^[23][24] ABC Family opted not to renew Twisted for a second season, in August 2014.^[25][26]

2014–present: Tut and upcoming works

In 2014, Jogia was cast in the Spike TV miniseries, Tut, alongside English actor Sir Ben Kingsley.^[27] In the lead role of the titular Pharaoh Tutankhamun, Jogia was reunited with Twisted actress Kylie Bunbury, who portrayed Suhad –Tutankhamun's love interest.^[28] On the casting of Bunbury, Jogia noted that, "[i]t was cool to be able to work with someone [Bunbury] you have built-in chemistry with. Going into this situation, I had no idea what it was going to be like, so knowing I was taking this on with someone I knew really helped."^[29] The miniseries, filmed in Morocco, premiered on Spike on July 19, 2015, and concluded on July 21, 2015.^[30]

Jogia returned to film, after joining the cast of I Am Michael in August 2014.^[31] Based on Benoit Denizet-Lewis' New York Times Magazine article "My Ex-Gay Friend" in 2011, the film's cast includes James Franco, Zachary Quinto and Emma Roberts, along with Jogia who portrays Nico, a gay Buddhist the protagonist (Franco) briefly falls in love with. Principal photography on the film commenced on August 11, 2014, in New York City and concluded later that month.^[32] The film was released at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, in January 2015.^[33] Jogia next appeared in the 2015 film, Ten Thousand Saints. Adapted from the 2011 novel of the same name by Eleanor Henderson, the film also starred Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Ethan Hawke.^[34] Later that year, Jogia appeared as Dark in the short film, Here Now.^[35] Further in 2015, he released a trailer for a horror–thriller short film he directed, entitled Of Dogs and Men. The short film had appearances by Sir Ben Kingsley, who previously worked with Jogia on Tut.^[36]

He appeared as Bones, in the 2016 web series short Last Teenagers of the Apocalypse.^[37] The four-part series, which was released on April 21, 2016, was produced and directed by Jogia.^[38] Jogia's next film credit was in the 1970s–based crime drama film Shangri–La Suite (also known as Killing the King), together with Luke Grimes and Emily Browning.^[39] The film was released in late 2016.^[40]

Jogia will star in the upcoming comedy film The Outskirts, alongside lead actress Victoria Justice. He was cast in the role of Dave on May 13, 2014, and the film marks Jogia and Justice's third collaboration since the 2009 television film Spectacular!.^[41] Future credits include The Year of Spectacular Men, a film directed by Lea Thompson. Thompson is the mother of Zoey Deutch, who also appears in the film opposite Jogia. He will portray Sebastian, the "loving boyfriend" of a movie star (Deutch).^[42] Other future film projects include, the 2016 thriller The Drowning (previously, Border Crossing)^[43] and A Midsummer Night's Dream, a contemporary film adaption of the comedy of the same name written by William Shakespeare.^[44] Jogia also landed a co-lead role with Eve Hewson in Rebecca Addelman’s directorial debut, Paper Year. Production on the project commenced in October 2016, with an expected release in 2017.^[45][46]

Personal life

Jogia has been in a relationship with actress Zoey Deutch since September 2011.^[47][48] He describes himself as "spiritual", having spent months as a Buddhist, and has roots in Hinduism.^[49] Jogia maintains that he has "looked at all kinds of ways of being, because I’m curious about what it takes to be human."^[49] He is a dual citizen of Canada and the United Kingdom.^[50] Jogia has a number of tattoos; one on his chest, leg, upper leg, shoulder, back, and his lower arm.^[51]

Activism

Jogia co-founded the online PSA organization Straight But Not Narrow (SBNN) in 2011, with Heather Wilk and Andre Pochon, in conjunction with the support of fellow actor, Josh Hutcherson.^[52] The non-profit organization is aimed towards changing the attitudes and viewpoints of young and adult straight people about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.^[53] Jogia believed, "[t]here was no one making straight youth responsible for their apathy. When you see a bully beating up a kid and you stand idle, that’s as loud, or louder, than the actual oppression", and hence established the organization.^[54]

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Director

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avan Jogia.

• Avan Jogia on Twitter
  
• Avan Jogia at the Internet Movie Database