Jaswant Dev Shrestha

Jaswant is an Award-winning actor, and a five-time Emmy nominated Documentarian from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - Heartland Chapter. Jaswant is the first Nepali to receive such an Honor. His 1st Emmy nomination came in 2016 as a Video Journalist - Host for his travel doc "It's the Journey with Jaz" filmed in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. 2nd Emmy nomination came in 2017 for his work as a producer in the second episode of "It's the Journey with Jaz" filmed in Crested Butte. 3rd and 4th Emmy nomination came in 2018 for his work as a Narrator and Director of a short format documentary, Dog Worship Festival. 5th Emmy nomination was in 2019 for his work as a Director in the Pilot episode of his Docu-Series "FESTIVALS." His first Best Actor Award win was at Blissfest333 in Denver, Colorado, in 2014 for his role in "The Treason" since he has won dozens of International awards with various projects worldwide. He has appeared in a Facebook commercial called: "The First Date." He is also the first Nepali actor to become a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Born in Nepal, Jaswant discovered acting at a very young age and was ambitious to be a professional actor when he grew up. He studied acting at the world-famous "The Beverly Hills Play House" in Hollywood. With a passion for learning all that he could about the film industry, Jaswant started his career as an assistant director working with numerous Film Directors in Bollywood. In 2000, he returned to Nepal and started working as Music Video Actor and Director for the Nepali Television channel and different music labels. He formed his own production company, "Team Work Film Production," in Nepal. Jaswant has been part of numerous commercially successful Music Videos. He has participated in various critically acclaimed performances during his years in Nepal, and his commercial for Surya Ply Wood completed in 2005 and still plays in 2020 on Nepali TV Channels. Additionally, Jaswant hosted a weekly travel-based Musical TV show called Pokhara.com, which was aired for 100 episodes and was Produced and Broadcast by NEPAL 1 TV. Being a lover of scenic beauty and having a passion for travel, Jaswant traveled to Manang, Nepal; One of the most remote places in the Himalayan region. He was moved by the inhabitants' lifestyle and the beauty of the place, which inspired him to make a Documentary film named after the town. He started filming in 2002, working as both Host and Director. After reviewing the first cut, Jaswant felt that the film could not portray enough of the region's lifestyle and culture that had so touched him initially. Undeterred, he returned to Manang many times in different seasons to finish his first feature-length documentary, "Heavenly Place Manang," it was released theatrically in Nepal and ran an education tour in hundreds of schools around Nepal until 2008. It was an official selection for many International Film Festivals, including the Himalayan Film festival Amsterdam 2017 and New York International Film and Video Festival in 2008. The film was released theatrically in Nepal and was received as an educational film leading it to have a special screenings tour in schools all around Nepal. After the film's huge success, he made a sequel titled, "Mustang Secrets Beyond the Himalayas", which once again received huge critical acclaim and has been a great asset for schools and colleges in Nepal for their social studies. As an actor, he has also studied Meisner and Chekhov styles of acting at Rocky Mountain Theatre with Chris Thatcher, University of Colorado (CU), and Denver Center for the Performing Arts. His early films: The Breakdown on Highway 7, The Treason, and Mustang Secrets beyond the Himalayas are available on Amazon.com. The film, "Tie the Knot" is on Netflix. Jaswant in 2020 lives and works in Hollywood. He just completed the post-production of his 5-part Docu-Series "Festivals," which is the process of distribution. He is now working on another six parts-Docu-series filmed in Portugal.