Actor Ankur Rathee: From Princeton to Bollywood and Hollywood, the Road to Best of the Best
Growing up, Ankur Rathee only saw South Asians on screen playing age-old tropes. This week, he plays Ronak in Netflix's Best of the Best, a South Asian leading man written as a true hero, something Hollywood has rarely put on screen.
Simi sits down with Ankur to trace his unconventional journey to acting. It runs from a family of farmers in Haryana, to a California childhood spent reenacting Bollywood dance numbers, to Princeton, where he couldn't stay off the stage.
From there, it's ten years building a career in Bollywood (Four More Shots Please!, Made in Heaven), and now a lead role in a Hollywood studio film with an entirely South Asian cast.
IN THIS EPISODE:
Why Ankur has to fight "tooth and nail" to protect his optimism in an industry built on rejection
Bollywood vs. Hollywood sets: hierarchy, crew size, jugaad, and red tape
How we get more South Asian-centric films greenlit
His wife, actor Anuja Joshi, and how she's shaped his career
Why he calls fame a currency, and what "making it" means to him
His advice for college students torn between a corporate career and the arts
The two words he wants to define his legacy: spiritual warrior
ABOUT ANKUR RATHEE
Ankur Rathee is an Indian-American actor known for Prime Video's Four More Shots Please!, Zoya Akhtar's Made in Heaven, and Netflix's Best of the Best, where he plays the male lead, Ronak. He was born in India, raised in California and educated at Princeton, and spent a decade working in Bollywood before returning to Hollywood. He is married to actress Anuja Joshi, a fourth-generation artist whose aunt is National Award-winning actress Pallavi Joshi.
ABOUT BEST OF THE BEST
Netflix. Released September 18, 2026. Directed by Lena Khan. Written by Prashanth Venkataramanujam and Hasan Minhaj. Starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Priyanka Kedia, Ankur Rathee, Janina Gavankar, Chaneil Kular, Becky Alex, Shreya Navile, and Hasan Minhaj.
WATCH OUR EPISODE WITH THE CREATORS of BEST OF THE BEST: Hasan Minhaj, Prashanth Venkataramanujam, and Lena Khan.
South Asian Trailblazers is an award-winning media platform, community, and agency dedicated to elevating leading South Asians. Join our community at SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. Subscribe to our newsletter to get new episodes and updates on our latest events in your inbox. Follow us @southasiantrailblazers on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.