Indian American actors and actresses traditionally have had a difficult time garnering roles in Hollywood. Yet, in recent years, with the likes of Kal Penn ("Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") and Ravi Kapoor (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") making the leap forward into mainstream roles, such successes may also be a double-edged sword. Michel W. Potts finds out that stereotypes are alive and well in Hollywood as he learns of the challenges Indian American actress Shazia Deen faces in securing "Indian" roles.

Her alluring almond eyes complemented by broad, high cheekbones give Shazia Deen a classic look, yet her light caramel complexion distinguishes her as an exotic actress. Her appeal is that she is ethnically ambiguous; people read into her face what they want to see. It has made her a success but has also had its drawbacks. Other than a lead role in an independent film by a first time director, Shazia has found hardly any work playing an Indian woman.

"I wish I could play more Indian roles, but I think there is a stereotype of what an Indian woman should look like, and it still exists," she confides to Indian Life & Style.

"I just had a casting for a new series on NBC called 'Heroes'. I had a great read, but the casting director said, 'You're not Indian'. I said I am Indian. He asked, 'One hundred percent?' I said one hundred percent. I was born there. I speak Hindi. I am as Indian as it comes. But he said, 'You don't look it; you look very LA'. Whatever that means. So I actually have a difficult time booking Indian roles. I wish it wasn't that way, but I do."

'Dot on the Forehead'

Five years ago, the same thing happened. She walked into an audition for a role on the David Spade show ("The Showbiz Show with David Spade"), and wasn't even given the opportunity to read. The casting directors said "'No, we're looking for Indian woman straight from India with the dot on the forehead'," she recounts.

Shazia admits she wasn't sure if she should have been offended. "I think stereotypes are very well alive in Hollywood, because that's what people connect with, and it makes sense. So I don't know what I can do to make myself more Indian."

Shazia thought the latest breakthroughs for Aishwarya Rai had broken the mold. "I thought things were really changing because she was Miss Universe and people were realizing that Indian women just don't have one specific look, they have many looks," she explains.

"I'm realizing by going on casting calls that they still want a very stereotypical Indian look when they cast Indians. What they want is for the audience to register, 'Oh, that's an Indian woman', and not have a question in their minds, and I don't think I'm conveying that."

Some black actresses faced the same problem in the early '70s. After they vehemently complained that there were not enough black faces being portrayed in television and film, the industry began to bend over backwards in hiring minorities. Ironically, the more beautiful black actresses couldn't find work because the casting directors said they didn't look "black enough."

Ethnically Ambiguous

By being ethnically ambiguous, on the other hand, Shazia has played an Egyptian girl in Disney's "The Hot Chick" with Rob Schneider, a Native American girl in Warner Bros.' "The Grind" with Adam Brody, and a Middle Eastern girl in "The Real Deal" with Lillo Broncato and Daniel Baldwin.

She has even been called in to read for Latina parts. Though she has given good readings, "In the end, they say I'm perfect for the part, I look Latin, but they wanted to hire someone who is actually Latin. I understand when I lose those parts, as I think it should go to a real Latin person."

Yet she has mixed feelings that Kristin Kreuk, who plays Lana Lang on "Smallville," was hired as the female Muslim lead in the upcoming film "Partition."

"Being an Indian woman, I was a little offended that they gave the role to a Chinese-Dutch girl. She's an actress. I sure she can do the research to play the role right, but something that serious should have gone to an Indian actress."

When the ethnicity of an actor becomes the issue, "pride gets in the way, and I think then we lose focus as to the whole reason why we became actors," Shazia says. "I became an actress to play many roles and to be exposed to different people's stories, live out those stories and bring them to life and not to book just Indian roles. Part of being an actor is studying these different cultures and being able to play something that is completely not you."

In her print work, however, Shazia is often hired to target specific ethnic markets. "Because I cover a large ground of ethnicities and I'm not speaking in the ad, I can appeal to the Latin Americans, the Middle Easterners, the Asians and so many other different groups; I feel like where my success has really been is in modeling because of that."

Born in New Delhi to Punjabi parents who brought her to California when she was three, Shazia grew up in Glendora and was "discovered" while attending the California College of Ayurveda in Seal Beach.

She was 18 at the time, working at a day spa, when someone came in looking for a model to replace the one who had fallen sick. In everyone's eyes, Shazia seemed the logical choice, and she was hired on the spot.

Modeling for Mustangs

While on the runway during the fashion show, a casting director in the audience spotted her, called her in, and soon thereafter she was booked for her first modeling job pitching the latest Mustangs for the Ford Motor company.

That job landed her an agent and since then she has appeared on the covers of "Natural Health" magazine, "Wedding Style," "Women's Health and Fitness," "Diet & Nutrition" as well as in the pages of "Shape," "Maxim," and "O," Oprah Winfrey's magazine. She has also appeared in national print and outdoor campaigns for such products as Coors Light, Sony Cybershot Camera, Kodak, Hewlett Packard, Wells Fargo, Nokia, Hyatt Hotels and Nike, among a host of others.

"It's just something that fell into my life, and I felt it happened for a reason," Shazia says. "Every time I would think about not doing it any more and go back to college, I would have a huge booking or I was always on hold for something. So I just went with it."

Her work on television occurred simultaneously. In between modeling jobs, she worked closely with a Comcast director who was shooting commercials for local businesses advertising on the cable networks. The jobs were tantamount to a paid apprenticeship and by the age of 19 the work had helped her land a commercial agent.

The director "gave me so much freedom," Shazia remembers. "He'd give me a script and tell me to do what I want. I did about 15 commercials with him."

With commercials for Nokia, Herbal Essence, Ameristar Casinos and GM's Flying Cars currently airing nationwide, Shazia cannot remember how many she has shot over the last ten years. "I'd say probably 30," she muses.

Guest Spots on TV

Within a span of three years, the commercial work led her directly into acting and a guest spot on Pamela Anderson's "VIP" television show. From there, she appeared on MTV holding her own opposite Andy Dick in his televised show and, having trained at the Groundlings Theater, has done various comedy skits on TV.

Her work on Sylvester Stallone's pilot "Lefty" for CBS television got her roles in several other pilots, most notably "The Loop," a highly anticipated mid-season replacement series for Fox television, and "Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend," which is Fox's number one pilot pick for 2006.

Meanwhile, she landed the lead in director Ken Oelrich's first film "Mixing Karma," in which Shazia plays a young Indian American entering adulthood; the film is poised to have its debut around the end of the year.

Yet, despite all her success, Shazia continued to study Ayurveda and three years ago received her state license to practice as a clinical Ayurvedic specialist. "I'd been fascinated with natural herbs and health ever since I was a teenager," she says. "Ayurveda made sense to me because it is from India and I could discover a lot of my background while going to school and doing something I loved."

Though the hectic schedule of her modeling and acting career has left her with little time to become a full-time practitioner, other than treating friends and family members, she hopes to one day build her own private practice.

"It all depends on where my career takes me and what successes I have as far as acting is concerned," she says, although she concedes that "the way I have planned it out is to have my successes in acting and modeling, build a name for myself, then in my late 40s open up an Ayurveda center or a day spa kind of retreat where people can come and detox, learn about diet and nutrition, kind of like the Deepak Chopra Center." She pauses, thinks about what she had just said, then laughs. "Except I would call it the Shazia Center."

Cover and Inside Photo Credits:

Photographer: Nadia Pandolfo (www.nadiapandolfo.com)

Makeup Artist: Jeffrey Paul

Hair Stylist: Eric Sebbag

Location: Courtesy of Nadia Pandolfo

Fashion Designer: Sheela Mehrotra-Joshi, Omaskas

IF YOU COULD ASK SHAZIA ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE? EMAIL US YOUR THOUGHTS TO INFO@INDIANLIFEANDSTYLE.COM.