Sharat Raju

Sharat Raju is an American director and writer, known for making documentaries and films about the lives of immigrants in American society. Raju has also directed episodes of major American television series, including How to Get Away with Murder, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Once Upon a Time, and others.

Sharat Raju
Born
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Michigan (BA)
American Film Institute (MFA)
OccupationFilmmaker, Director
Years active2003–present
Spouse(s)Valarie Kaur
RelativesManu Raju (brother)
Gopalakrishna Adiga (grandfather)

Early life and education

Raju was born in Chicago and raised in Darien, Illinois. Raju's brother, Manu Raju, is journalist who currently works as the Senior Congressional Correspondent for CNN. Raju's grandfather, Gopalakrishna Adiga, was a prominent Kannada poet. Raju attended Hinsdale South High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan, where we was the sports editor of The Michigan Daily and worked as a freelance reporter for the Daily Herald.[1] Raju then earned a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the American Film Institute.[2]

Career

Raju co-founded the Yale Visual Law Project and co-produced three documentary short films as a Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project. Raju’s first film, American Made, which starred Kal Penn and Sakina Jaffrey, won 17 film festival awards and aired nationally on Independent Lens.[3] American Made was Raju's master's thesis film produced while studying at the American Film Institute.[4]

In September 2004, Raju was named by Esquire as one of the 20 young film directors to watch. Prior to graduate school, he worked for casting director Mali Finn on feature films including 8 Mile, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Matrix Reloaded.[4]

Raju has collaborated on many of his works with his wife, Valarie Kaur. Divided We Fall (2008) was Raju's first film created in partnership with his wife. The couple has made other documentary films including Stigma (2011),[5] which highlights the impact of New York City police’s “Stop and Frisk” policy; Alienation (2011),[6] about immigration raids; The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax (2012),[7] a documentary on the use of solitary confinement in prison; and Oak Creek: In Memorium (2012),[8] a short film about the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin. He has also directed episodes of Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, NCIS: New Orleans, Criminal Minds, and Mistresses.[1]

Raju has written columns for HuffPost and Filmmaker Magazine.[9][10]

Personal life

Raju lives with his wife Valarie Kaur in Los Angeles.[11]

Filmography

Television
Title Year Episode Notes
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 2014-15 2 Episodes
Finding Carter 2015 Episode: "The Sheltering Sky"
Grimm 2016 Episode: "Inugami"
Mistresses 2016 2 Episodes
How to Get Away with Murder 2016 Episode: "Is Someone Really Dead?"
Scandal 2016-17 3 Episodes
Criminal Minds 2016-18 3 Episodes
Once Upon a Time 2017 2 Episodes
NCIS: New Orleans 2017 Episode: "The Last Stand"
The Catch 2017 Episode: "The Bad Girl"
Designated Survivor 2017-18 2 Episodes
MacGyver 2018 Episode: "Benjamin Franklin + Grey Duffle"
Good Girls 2018 Episode: "Special Sauce"
Fear the Walking Dead 2018-19 2 Episodes
The Good Doctor 2018 Episode #23: "Carrots"
Proven Innocent 2019 Episode #7: "Living and Dying in East Cleveland"
9-1-1: Lone Star 2020 Episode #4: "Act of God"


See also

References
  1. "Sharat Raju". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  2. "Independent Lens . AMERICAN MADE . The Filmmakers | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  3. "Sharat Raju". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. "Sharat Raju". Independent Lens. PBS. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  5. "Stigma". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  6. "Alienation". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  7. "The Worst of the Worst". yalevisuallawproject.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  8. "Remembering The Oak Creek Tragedy In Film". The Huffington Post. 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  9. Kaur, Valarie; Raju, Sharat (2013-02-05). "Remembering The Oak Creek Tragedy In Film". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  10. "Mali Finn - Filmmaker Magazine - Winter 2008". filmmakermagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  11. "Valarie Kaur". cyberlaw.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
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