A Conversation with Daya Vaidya
I spoke with screen and stage actress Daya Vaidya about acting, the utility of going to school, wellness and parenting during COVID.
Fans of Amazon’s procedural police drama Bosch will recognize Daya as Jen Kowski. Season six of Bosch is available now on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
Yanis: So what’s going on with Bosch?
Daya: Season 6 just dropped on Amazon, and then we got picked up for season 7.
Y: How would you describe Bosch to someone who hasn’t seen it?
D: I think it’s one of the best procedural cop dramas on TV right now. It’s really gritty, and really authentic. It takes place in LA. It’s all shot in LA scenery, all on location. They do a little bit on the set but they really go out into the city and capture LA life — the other side of LA life that we don’t always see in Hollywood.
I love how they don’t gloss over things so they really try to get it right. It’s just really good writing and really great acting. It’s one of the best series on television right now.
Y: And what can the people who have checked out previous seasons expect from season 6?
D: Season 6 explores a lot of the different story lines. Bosch is always trying to solve the particular murder of that season, along with trying to solve past crimes. He gets further along in season 6.
On the political side, Lance Reddick’s character [Irvin Irving] is running for mayor, so I’m running his campaign and there’s lots of cool stuff that happens with that.
And then there’s a bunch of other little storylines.
Things really start getting fleshed out in season 6. Every season just gets better, this season is one of my favorite ones.
Y: You’ve grown up in Southern California. You grew up not far from some rough neighbourhoods. Has that helped you with this series?
D: I grew up in Oakland, in a very gritty area and then came to LA when I was only 18. My experience growing up in Oakland and also seeing all of LA — in college I spent a lot of time in South Central — I know both worlds. So I can step into any world, but I had a really good family so I was protected.
It’s a privilege, I had some street smarts so I knew how to get along in the area. But my family protected me so I didn’t get swept up into it.
Y: How would you describe Jen’s journey from previous episodes to her arc now.
D: What’s interesting about this season is that she’s taken over. In past seasons she was under Hector Ramos (Yancey Arias), who was the mayor during those seasons. She worked for him. What we see in season six is she’s come out from under him.
He’s become a judge, and now she runs the show. I love to play that, and the character loves to be in charge.
Y: You posted on Instagram about the tragic passing of Irrfan Khan. What did he mean to you?
D: He was one of the most brilliant actors and I feel like people in the mainstream didn’t know. He was in a small indie movie called Puzzle. Everyone should go out and see his performance in that. In any other situation he would win an Academy Award.
He comes from Bollywood and I’m part Indian. I have a personal connection to him as well seeing him as an Indian actor that I look up to. I was shocked by his passing because I don’t think a lot of us knew that he was even sick. I’ve been sad that I didn’t get to meet him, but his work is out there and I really urge people to check him out. He’s an amazing actor.
Y: I completely agree. You went to UCLA, a school famous for its theater and film programs. Is studying acting necessary in 2020? Would you recommend young actors get a degree?
D: That’s a really good question. I think it’s different for everyone. I hate to make a blanket statement for everybody because I think everybody’s path is different. My personal belief on school is it’s more than just getting in the industry.
For me school taught me everything I needed to learn to handle the industry. It was about learning how to learn. You can go to acting classes and learn how to act. You don’t need it [a university degree] to be the best actor, but you need it to be able to handle life.
You need it to be the most intelligent actor, and UCLA gave me that. It was all around amazing education. I believe in college. I believe in higher learning. Period. Go to college!
Y: Go to college! Can you think of a time where your college education gave you an edge?
D: Yeah actually. I did a lot of theater there [UCLA]. Tons of theater, and it was the theater I feel like actors don’t do anymore. It’s day in and day out rehearsals, trying to make money while you’re in class and rehearsals and putting up a show.
How do you balance everything? How do you develop a character over a long period of time? Theater chops, whether you get them regionally or on Broadway or even the small little theater in the middle of nowhere — it doesn’t matter. Theater chops help you in film and television, absolutely. I can tell the difference. When people are acting you can really see if someone is coming from that background.
Y: Acting is not your only passion. You love nutrition and reading medical journals. What you’ve often said about medicine is while you trust the professionals, you encourage people to do some research of their own.
D: I definitely feel that way. I think you have to do a lot of your own research. I struggled with cancer twice and so that led me on a journey to be my own advocate. I read a lot of medical journals trying to come up with my own treatment plan along with doctors.
I believe in conventional medicine and following your doctor’s advice, but also in doing your own research to work as a team so that you’re not blindly going down the path they give you. Then you know what the treatment means. I think it’s important to be a part of your own medical plan.
I also come from a family of a lot of doctors so I think it was in my blood to be interested in medicine.
Y: So just to be clear, you like the institutions, you just think there should be a consonance between what’s taught in medical school and what’s coming out of the latest medical journals. And you want to combine that with listening to your body?
D: That’s a good point, yes. I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t trust doctors, I do. I think what happens is medical school is one thing and then they go out into the world, and if you don’t stay up to date on the research...
Everything is dropping so fast, and some doctors are really good keeping up with that. Some are good at it, some aren’t, and I think it’s important for you to make sure that you are following what is coming out.
It’s also my body. I think western medicine doesn’t do as well with “my body.” I think that’s an important component of health, nutrition and spiritual awareness. All of those things come into play for your health. I think we could do a better job of incorporating that into our medicine in this country.
Y: What is the biggest misconception about health we have in the west?
D: “Food doesn’t really matter.” It would drive me nuts [during chemotherapy.] It was completely bananas to me that they weren’t letting all patients know how much nutrition was important in your healing.
I read a lot about it but there are some people who need their doctor to tell them. Unfortunately, they’re [doctors] not really allowed to legally give them advice on nutrition. I just wish nutrition played a greater part in people’s treatment.
Y: You’re big on healthy eating, but you also lead a busy life. How do you balance eating healthy when time is of the essence?
D: The best thing to do is try to prepare ahead of time. When you go to the grocery store you should already have a plan in your head about certain things to not put in your basket. I try not to buy things that are processed, or things that have refined sugar.
You have to start out small. Don’t push yourself all the way. Start off slowly in the grocery store and look at the labels. That’s the most important thing. Read your labels, because if you see more than six ingredients, most likely you’re starting to get into chemicals, preservatives and sugar. Start out small and then slowly build toward whole foods that aren’t processed. Already that will help so much.
I try to cook over the weekend and then it have it throughout the week. So I’ll make a big pot of curry. and then I’m able to have that curry in the refrigerator and then eat it with some brown rice and sprinkled with flax seeds. You can have that throughout the week and it’s really filling and nutritious.
I have lots of ideas. I could go on and on!
Y: You’re making me so hungry! Do you have any tips for parents on how to get the kids excited about eating healthy?
D: Bribery! One son likes my homemade bread that has flax and chia and all that and the other son is like “get this out of my face.” It’s hard for children. They say it takes 20 times of eating something for children to develop a taste for it. Even if they just take a bite, I’ve found that eventually as they get older they start to develop a taste. If they don’t, I sneak stuff in.
I’ll do a smoothie and sneak the spinach in. They won’t even know. Instead of buying the boxed pancake mix, I’ll use regular flour but I’ll grind chia seeds and flax seeds and put them into the mix. You’ve got to sneak it in.
Y: One of my favorite pancake recipes involves stirring two raw eggs and one ripe banana to create “batter.” You can use this batter to make protein pancakes! Add organic maple syrup and some blueberries and the kids will never know they’re eating whole foods pancakes!
D: Yum! That’s exactly what I’m talking about, that’s awesome! You don’t have to sacrifice taste to eat healthy. You really don’t, you just have to be creative and figure out what you like. That’s a perfect example. You use the banana instead of extra sugar, and maple syrup over a refined sugar.
Y: I’m Canadian so I had to include the maple syrup.
D: I love maple syrup! Everything I do is with maple syrup so I feel you.
Y: What’s next for you Daya?
D: It’s hard to say right now because of COVID-19. Everything is on hold right now. I think we’re gonna have to make some changes with social distancing and how we shoot scenes.
Once we find that out we’re going to have a better time moving forward with some of these projects. My husband and I have a production company, so we’re waiting to see what the guidelines are going to be so we know how we’re going to need to shoot.
Some scenes might have to get changed. We all have to flow with this and it’s really important for people to stay safe. I’m curious as everyone else about how to do that. But we will, we’re gonna get it done!
I just want to shout out all the health workers, nurses, front line workers, grocery store workers. Everybody that’s out there during the pandemic. I hope we all support them and do our best to socially distance and stay home the best we can. We’re in this together.
You can follow Daya Vaidya on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @dayavaidya.