Akshay Roy

Akshay Roy was born in Mumbai on 25th of April, 1979. He spent the early years of his life in Nigeria, where his parents moved once his father got a job there. At the age of 10 he joined a boarding school, Mayo College, Ajmer where he studied till class 12. He was an active sportsman and ended up as the school basketball and cross country captain in class 12. Besides that he was a college monitor and house captain in his final year as well. While at Mayo, he also took part in various debates and plays and won the school cravat in both spheres. He also went from Mayo to Radley College in the UK on a exchange program in class 11. From Mayo, Akshay joined St.Stephens College, Delhi where he studied English Honours. It was here that he got fully drawn into theatre in the college's Shakespeare Society and performed in and directed various plays like The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, The Glass Menagerie and In Camera among others. Post St.Stephens, Akshay joined the Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC), Jamia for a 2 year MA in Mass Communication course, where he studied filmmaking. Coming to Mumbai after that, he worked as an Assistant Director with Farhan Akhtar on 'Lakshya', Mira Nair on 'The Namesake' and 'Vanity Fair', Deepa Mehta on 'Water', Paul Greengrass on 'The Bourne Supremacy' and John Hay on a BBC film. He has directed several short films including 'A Shoe Story', 'All is Well', 'The Last Dance' and 'The Finish Line' that have showcased in various International Film Festivals (the Montreal World Film Festival, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, the Indo American Arts Council Festival in New York, the Independent South Asian Film Festival in Seattle, the Bollywood and Beyond festival in Stuttgart and the Kerala, Mumbai and Pune International Film Festivals. His short films have also won various awards including the Best Film at the Orion Film Festival, the 0110 British Council Film Festival and the French Embassy awards. In 2011, he won a National Award for his short film 'The Finish Line'. Akshay's short foray into advertising, directing the Dove 'Inner Radiance' film for Ogilvy, won him a silver at the Hero Awards. He was, till recently. directing a film that was being co produced by Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor.