Arti discovered her love of the arts at an early age.  She grew up in the Philippines exploring everything from music and dance, to cooking, sewing and crochet.  She stayed connected culturally by learning to play native instruments like an anklung and taking lessons in Indian “Bollywood” dance.

Her family migrated to the U.S. during a time of political unrest in Manila.  It was in Texas that Arti discovered her passion for acting.  After all of the intense life-change of moving to another country, performing was where she felt free to be herself. There was one specific night, when she was 11, where she suffered a major wardrobe malfunction, and her costume literally fell off in the middle of a performance. She remembers picking up her dress, putting it back on and continuing the show.  She received a standing ovation that night and it was then that she realized anything was possible.

 

Arti still pursued the arts but also discovered a love for medicine while in college.  This took her on a journey – or should we call it a detour - into medicine Even though she knew her truest desire was to perform, this was a challenging and enjoyable new path.

After receiving her Masters, she took a job working in the emergency room of a hospital.  The desire to act never left her.  She auditioned for regional and community theatre in town, but wanted more.  That passion led her to NYC where she studied at the Atlantic Theatre Conservatory and completed their two-year program.  Her medical and arts passions intersected when she met Richard Dreyfuss at a coffee shop next to the ER and convinced him to speak at her acting school.

 

“ I still remember myself at eleven years old, on that stage, believing anything was possible.  I am finally living it!!! ”