CREATE A LIFE YOU ARE PROUD OF

25 years old Manali Gurnani, was born and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She is a commerce postgraduate and worked in the corporate sector for 5 years. She loves reading, writing and dancing.

She learned acting from the Rangshila theatre group and is now a full-time actor. "I never want to get tagged as a struggling actor because I'm not struggling here I'm just aspiring to be an actor and now as I have done a few commercial projects I would consider myself an actor," says Manali.

Where do you see yourself after the next 20 years?
She sees herself living a balanced, happy state of mind, body and soul. She further added that she isn't sure if that's possible but she's gonna try harder to attain so.

How did your journey begin?
She said it all started back in school, she was part of a school play in which the role of iconic Daya ben from Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chasma was portrayed her and the performance made everyone laugh. This boosted her confidence and since then she wanted to become an actor. "I started preparing my mind, my bank balance and my parents for this field. My mind because I was low self-esteem girl in school my self-doubts were never ending hence had to prepare my mind first, My bank balance - I've been watching actor's interviews from the age of 12 years so I knew what is the main problem of actors survival in Mumbai money so I made sure my balance is strong enough to support my living in this expensive city. And third my parents- I never wanted a career that my parents don't want me to go for hence from childhood I kept saying to every family member that I am the heroine of this family and since then everyone in my family knew I want to become an actor and they were fully convinced after seeing my efforts into this field" said Manali.

Talk to us about your achievements.
She got her first acting gig in Mumbai within a month of moving there and has done 7 ads out of which 3 have been released and one was with a big brand Lux inferno starring veteran actor Boman Irani, also the appreciation from friends and family is her biggest achievement.