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Mid-day 44th anniversary special: How this American made Mumbai his home
Updated On: 28 July, 2023 12:56 PM IST | Mumbai | Shriram Iyengar
Bernard Dafney | Theatre actor and director | From the plush suburbs of California to setting up his dream acting studio in chaotic Andheri, here’s how a non-Indian theatrewallah spent the pandemic discovering the camaraderie and rush that defines the Maximum City
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Bernard Dafney (centre) interacts with students at his studio in Andheri. Pic/Anurag Ahire
As you walk into Dafney Productions Studio in Andheri, it is hard to miss the towering six-foot-10-inch frame of its eponymous founder and proprietor. On most days, you can spot Bernard Dafney engaged in teaching the Meisner method, preparing for an audition with students or planning a new play. “It is a great city for the community of performers,” he tells us.
Dafney moved to Mumbai four years ago in 2019. Unlike the usual story of a struggle, the drama and performance arts graduate from California arrived in the city with a job in hand. “I was offered a teaching position at a few acting studios, and my wife was also working on a project in India,” he shares. Acting and the arts had always been part of his life. His father was late Bernard Dafney, an American footballer and the offensive tackle for Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers. “I am the only one in the family who is not an athlete,” he jokes. Perhaps the inclination towards the arts also comes from his mother, a vocalist. “Even my father would write poetry. The house always had music and songs.”
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