The Impossibility of Defining the Adaptable Ary Satish

Ary Satish doesn’t feel a sense of hierarchy when it comes to his vocational choices. For him, every career opportunity is a chance to explore and create. Commercials, music videos, short films, feature films; these are all a vehicle for Ary to act and challenge himself. This NYC based actor has steadily built quite a name for himself in roles which range from comedy to drama to even dancing. Seemingly bent on eluding confining labels, every production that he is seen in seems to be his wheelhouse until the next one appears and equally impresses.

  Musicians, painters, actors, and nearly every type of artist are shackled by the same concept; the public loves you for one thing and is incredibly resistant to versatility. The means of circumventing this for those like Ary is to create such a diverse body of work that he is discovered by different audiences for completely different things. With regards to on-screen performances, in the film American Weasel, Satish is the most affable insurrectionist you’ve ever seen. He’s positively frightening and maniacal in Teddy Ruxpin, a horror twist on the famed teddy bear. Ary is the sole voice of reason in a comedy depicting a superhero intervention titled Rick Rickter. Conceding that many people recognize him for his New York Film Festival Award-Winning (Best Actor Award) film Take Care, as a famous actor in a biracial relationship, Ary notes that he has preferences within his eclectic choices. He communicates, “My preferred genre to act in has always been Drama. What I appreciate about dramas is that they feature stories with high stakes and many conflicts. They’re plot-driven and demand that every character and scene move the story forward. Dramas follow a clearly defined narrative plot structure, portraying real-life scenarios or extreme situations with emotionally-driven characters. Out of all the other genre’s, they feel the most realistic for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the suspension of disbelief that comes with acting in a science-fiction, action or horror film for example. However, what I love about acting itself is that it moves people. It makes people bond with a character, that they don’t know outside of a film, enough to be emotionally moved by them. I personally have always been moved most by Dramas.”

  There was a time when film stars didn’t do television and commercial actors couldn’t get hired for TV. The internet has eviscerated these boundaries and streaming services have ushered in a golden era of television. You’ll likely see the same actors representing brands on social media and walking the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Ary confirms that he loves the potential benefits of appearing in commercials. His lead role in a Markup Software commercial campaign was broadcast online, over streaming services, and social media platforms. In addition to greater recognizability, Mr. Satish saw a massive increase in his own social media followers. An increase in revenue streams is not the only benefit for such a situation as Ary relates, “There are things to learn through commercial acting. Commercials have a science to them; an audition process very different to that of film/tv which I find easier to predict. Very often when auditioning for a specific company’s commercial, you can reference the style of commercials that company has done before and use that knowledge to inform your preparation for the audition you’re doing. For example, for the NYU Langone Health (ranked #3 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report) commercial which I’d acted in, by viewing their previous commercials, I understood that their style of storytelling in a commercial focus on an emotional or dramatic scene and featuring hard working, reassuring, positive healthcare professionals. As I was playing a healthcare professional, I was able to incorporate these themes into the scenes I had to audition for, which eventually led me to booking the role. Commercials are also fun because they come with perks! Once I booked the 5&Go Mobile App commercial, their style of storytelling was to record the actors playing the game that their mobile app presents. So, instead of preparing anything, all I needed to do was to play the game, and then I was able to use their service afterward.”

  Music videos have offered Ary the means to collaborate with artists of other mediums and find a common creative space; an idea he finds most attractive. In the official music video “Kingston City Morgue” by The Yesters, the actor performs alongside Alyssa Rallo Bennett. He can be seen performing choreographed dance as well as breakdancing. Ary’s role in the “OutWithOut (feat. Daleela)” music video is even more exploratory. He explains that the character he plays – both as actor and dancer – as representing “the human embodiment of anxiety. In developing this character, we created both dance sequences and acting moments which were physically waxing and waning. Aggressive and rough at times, but submissive and soft at times as well. It gave me a lovely chance to explore my physical range of intensity throughout the filming of the music video, both in acting and dance. I enjoyed being able to take on an ‘essence’ as an actor, rather than taking on a human character.” It bares mentioning that much of his work in music videos is void of dialogue, starkly contrasting the majority of the productions which populate his impressive resume. Ary Satish follows a path that explored many different mediums of performance, as he navigates it all with a sense of confidence that only those who share his vision can truly understand.

Writer: Sharon Howe