Jaswant Dev Shrestha

Jaswant is the first Nepali Actor/Filmmaker to be nominated for an EMMY from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - Heartland Chapter. No other Nepali has ever received such an honor.His first Best Actor Award win was at Blissfest333 in Denver, Colorado in 2014 for his role in The Treason. Since then he has won dozens of International awards with various projects.He recently appeared in a Facebook commercial called: "The First Date". He is the first Nepali actor to become a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Born in Nepal Jaswant discovered acting at a very young age and was ambitious to be a professional actor when he grew up. He studied acting at the world famous "The Beverly Hills Play House" in Hollywood. With a passion for learning all that he could about the industry, Jaswant started his career as an assistant director working with numerous Film Directors including 3 years with Kalpana Lamji a National Award Winning Film Maker in Bollywood. In 2000, he returned to Nepal and started working as Music Video Actor and Director for Nepali Television channel at several production houses, including "Drishya the visual makers" and formed his own Production company"Team Work Film Production", Jaswant has been part of numerous commercially successful Music Videos. He has participated in a variety of critically acclaimed performances during his years in Nepal, and his commercial for Surya Ply Wood done in 2005 still plays on Nepali TV Channels. Additionally, Jaswant hosted a weekly travel based Musical TV show called Pokhara.com which was aired for 100 episodes and was Produced and Broadcast by NEPAL 1 TV. Being a lover of scenic beauty and having a passion for travel, Jaswant took a trip to a district of Nepal called "Manang", one of the most remote places in the Himalayan region. He was so touched by the lifestyle and the beauty of the place, that he was inspired to make a Documentary film. He started filming in 2002 working as both Traveller and Director. After reviewing the first cut, Jaswant felt that the film was not able to portray enough of the lifestyle and culture of that region that had so touched him initially. Undeterred, he returned to Manang many times in different seasons to finish his masterpiece, Heavenly Place Manang, a documentary completed in 2005. It was officially selected for many International Film Festivals, including New York International Film Festival in 2008. This documentary was released theatrically in Nepal and was screened as an educational film in schools and colleges all around Nepal. After the huge success of the film he made a sequel called Mustang Secrets Beyond the Himalayas, which once again received huge critical acclaim and has been a great asset for schools and colleges in Nepal for their social studies. Jaswant now lives and works in Hollywood, fulfilling his childhood dreams. He has also studied Meisner and Chekhov style of acting at Rocky Mountain Theatre with Chris Thatcher, University of Colorado (CU) and Denver Center for the Performing Arts. One of his early films: The Breakdown on Highway 7 is available on Amazon.com. His upcoming feature and short movies: The Treason (Feature), Namastey LA (Feature pre-production), Tie the Knot (Feature filming), Blame (Short-Filming), Divergence (Feature in development). Show less «