Ishika Muchhal

Ishika Muchhal (she/her) is an Indian American, LA-based actor, singer, dancer, writer and director. She is pursuing her BFA in Acting at CalArts ('23), a Lillian Disney Scholar. A California Arts Council "Individual Artist Fellow" and an International Honor Thespian, she has over 70 plays, musicals, films, voice overs, ads, & competitions to her name, both in English and Hindi. Theatrical highlights include: starring in 2 shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, performing as Gloucester in King Lear at A Noise Within in 2017, and originating the role of Rosaura Flagg in Samantha Behr's "The Fig and the Wasp" at the CalArts Walt Disney Modular Theater in 2021. A bold advocate for representation, Ishika hosts an interview series called A QISSAA with Ishika: Quintessential and Inspiring Stories of South Asian Artists. This project is the focus of her California Arts Council "Individual Artist Fellow" grant. Ishika fell in love with the performing arts at age three, training in multiple styles of acting since age 9, singing since 12, and dancing since 5 (performing her 2-hour solo Bharatanatyam dance recital, or Arangetram, in 2018). She strives to use arts and advocacy to highlight and fix social justice issues, decolonize storytelling, increase representation, and create new work through an intersectional lens. Beyond performance, Ishika is an avid writer, with published, award-winning poetry, creative writing and journalism. She is heavily involved in community and organizational advocacy, leadership, campaigning & volunteering. She has worked with Rotary, National Women's Political Caucus, American Cancer Society, UNICEF, Our Community LA, Foothill Unity Center, and more.