Andrea Macdonald, founder of ideaXme, interviews actor Alexander Behrang Keshtkar.
“Who am I? That’s a very big question. Acting is what I do. It is not who I am. Before acting, I did carpentry. I wanted to find out about it, so I did. It’s the same with acting!”
Alexander Behrang Keshtkar, 33-year-old Iranian born Danish Citizen has “just been booked” for a major part in Series 4 of The Bridge, the huge Nordic Noir series shown in 162 countries.
So, why is this so remarkable? The answer is, he only started acting 4 years ago and he pretty much taught himself!
“Acting is not who I am. It is an interest. You can never just be a function. What you do, is not your identity. Realizing this makes it much easier to do acting, to do anything!” Alexander Behrang Keshtkar.
The Bridge is written by Hans Rosenfeldtand and produced by Nimbus Film and Filmlance International. The fourth series will be aired in 2017 and will be the last.
Rosenfeldt has said that viewers are in for a surprise and this is where Alexander Behrang Keshtkar comes in.
So what’s been happening in The Bridge so far?
Saga Norén, played by Sofia Helin, Swedish detective and her Danish co-star Martin Rohde, played by Kim Bodnia, untangle complex criminal cases. Season 3, saw Rohde replaced with another Danish officer Henrik Sabroe, played by Thure Lindhardt.
The third series ended in 2015 with the beginning of the search for Henrik’s two missing daughters and his wife’s killer.
The Bridge is filmed in Denmark and Sweden on either side of the Oresund Bridge, that connect both countries. Bodnia has subsequently left the series and Sofia Helin, who stars as the unusual Swedish detective Saga Noren remains.
Alexander talks about his journey to the point where he was offered his role in The Bridge:
Four years ago something changed. Alexander had a conversation with his father. Someone he rarely has contact with. He asked him what his strongest memory of him was as a child. His father said that it was Alexander’s part in a school play. He had been dreading it and thought like many children’s performances in his opinion, it was going to be boring.
The performance was as his father expected, then to his surprise Alexander stepped forward from the back of the stage and said his lines with such force and gravitas “the whole audience woke up”. His father never forgot the way Alexander said those lines. Yet he told his son throughout his childhood that he would never amount to anything.
It was this conversation four years ago, which reminded Alexander that he had always wanted to be an actor, so he decided to give it a try. It is ironic, given his recent acting successes, that it was this conversation that sparked Alexander’s acting career!
Alexander is positive about this and all his experiences:
“We don’t need all this pain to be creative. It does not need to be so hard. You just need to be at peace. We are all one. You are me and I am you, so consciousness is god. Some of us are less conscious but consciousness is what we are. If I abuse you, mistreat you. I abuse, and mistreat myself!”
“If someone does something stupid or bad, the best gift we can give is to forgive. It’s the best solution for everything. God is within us all. Realizing these things has given me more in my life.”
The Big Idea:
The influence Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now.
Once you achieve balance and peace anything is possible.
New acting roles – The Bridge and more ahead in the UK and USA.
How to persuade casting directors to give you the chance. How Alexander did it.
The Human Story:
Alexander is the son of communist Iranian parents who were political refugees from Iran. Despite being from a good family, he was raised in the ghetto, joined a gang and got into crime. He surfaced, with the help of many people from this part of his life when he was 18-years-old.
“My mom did everything she could but I was out of her reach. She called my teacher from 7th grade and asked him if he would visit me at the mental hospital. She has done all in her power to help me all the way.”
How did someone like you end up in a gang?
“My dad was violent mentally and physically. He told me that I was nothing, I would never do anything. He was physically and emotionally abusive.”
“Because I had pain I could not relate to other kids. So I turned to the street, where I hung around with kids from Middle Eastern families, where I found a common identity. I did not care about school. I started stealing. Looking back I was trying to find identity. I needed to find some status. So I did more and more crazy stuff.”
“I had a fight with my dad, my parents got divorced, I went to jail and had a breakdown. I was sent to a mental hospital but one of my teachers did not give up on me. He visited me and helped me to pass my exams.”
Despite being dyslexic this teacher helped Alexander discover that he was good at analysis.
The story of how he persuaded Jesper Christensen, who played Mr White in Spectre, the James Bond movie, to become his mentor.
“It is about knowing. I know that I am good at acting. I have students of my own now. I tell them the only thing you need is to know that you are interested in acting. If you know, then it will lead you somewhere.”
How did Alexander put his past life behind him?
“I have had a lot of people who have helped me in my life. I am very grateful for that. When I need help now, I turn to Tolle. Sometimes I lose my balance. Sometimes I have negative thoughts.”
Who would like to meet?
“Eckhart Tolle.”
What question would he like to ask?
“Are you always at peace and do negative thoughts arise at all?”
The advice for aspiring actors.
“All you need to do is know that acting really interests you!”
Credits: Andrea Macdonald interview video, text, and audio
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