In this episode of The True Fiction Project, actor Rishi Jaiswal walks us through his unlikely leap from aerospace engineering to a national Broadway tour, his lead role in The Revolution’s Wife, and the deeply personal story behind his new short film, The Last Waltz. This movie is about a South Asian family confronting their trans daughter’s identity and the silence that follows. We also talk about dance, Sundance, and the strange coincidences that shaped this casting. Tune in to hear the trailer of The Last Waltz, highlighting the moment a father finally faces the daughter he can barely name.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How Rishi Jaiswal traded aerospace engineering for a career on stage and screen, starting with So You Think You Can Dance and a national tour of Life of Pi on Broadway.
✅ Why he sent a freedom fighter poem about Gaza to land his role in Revolution’s Wife, and how that bold risk paid off during the casting process.
✅ How growing up around a family dance studio and Bollywood culture shaped the way Rishi approaches every character he plays on screen and stage.
✅ Why The Last Waltz speaks directly to the South Asian community about learning to accept a trans child, even without fully understanding her journey first.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Rishi Jaiswal shares how he became involved in Revolution’s Wife
03:25 How a Gaza freedom fighter poem helped Rishi land his role in Reenita’s script
05:14 Discussion of the Revolution’s Wife script
07:56 The Sundance Film Festival encounter that unexpectedly brought Nosheen into the cast as Padma
11:35 From aerospace engineering to a family dance studio, tracing Rishi’s winding path into the arts
15:10 Rishi introduces The Last Waltz, his own short film about a trans daughter and her parents
22:38 Watch the exclusive trailer for The Last Waltz ahead of its debut at the LA Shorts Festival
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
💎 Rishi’s role in Revolution’s Wife was a lifelong dream
💎 Following your fears, not avoiding them, is what pushed Rishi from a stable engineering path into acting and dance, including his years with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
💎 Real support does not require full understanding. Reenita and Rishi agree that parents do not need to fully understand their children, only to keep showing up for them.
BIO
Rishi Jaiswal is an Indian-American actor, filmmaker, and founder of Aikyam Entertainment. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, his career spans from national television—including shows like So You Think You Can Dance, ABC’s Prank Panel with Johnny Knoxville, and NBC’s American Auto opposite Ana Gasteyer—to starring roles in national commercial campaigns. He penned the award-winning play Radicals, which is slated for a stage return early next year. Rishi also wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the feature film Unmasked now that recently gained distribution, and he is currently starring in an upcoming short film based on the Gadar revolutionary movement “Revolution’s Wife”, directed by Reenita Malhotra. His latest project, The Last Waltz, is set for its world premiere at the Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival.” early next month!
ABOUT THE GUEST:
The Last Waltz Tickets LA Shorts Fest
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