SO WHO IS ISHIKA MUCHHAL?
Ishika Muchhal is an LA-based, Indian American theater & film actor, singer, dancer, writer, model, director, producer, & activist.
She strives to use the arts and advocacy to address social issues, decolonize storytelling, increase representation, and create intersectional new work.
Her training includes a BFA in Acting from CalArts (Social Science minor), 18+ years of classical and contemporary dance & singing, and masterclasses in directing, writing, & producing.
Ishika received the California Arts Council “Individual Artist Fellow” grant for her interview series A QISSAA with Ishika: Quintessential and Inspiring Stories of South Asian Artists. She is also a Humanity in Action Fellow, a Lillian Disney Scholar, a Flora Hollingsworth Hurschler “Good Citizen” Scholar, and a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International.
She has performed internationally, with highlights being performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Hudson Theatre, Broadwater Mainstage Theater with Theatre Movement Bazaar, CalArts Walt Disney Modular Theater, A Noise Within, and the award-winning short film The Pomegranate Tree.
Ishika’s passion for social justice translates into her work beyond performance as well. She has worked in numerous capacities in arts programming, community engagement, and political advocacy, whether it be through her arts administration roles, political campaigns and caucuses, legislative advocacy, filmmaking, shared governance leadership roles, grassroots organizing, or fundraising.
Ishika is an avid traveler, collager, reader, photographer, binger of movies and TV, and punster - really, puns are not a choice, they are a lifestyle!