Biography
Manish Dayal was an Indian-American actor who first became known for his role as the doting boyfriend Raj Kher on The CW's teen drama, "90210" (2008-2013). Born and raised in South Carolina, Dayal's very first brush with acting came in 2005 when on a whim, he auditioned for a short film while attending George Washington University. The film was called "Time and the Hour Run" (2005), and Dayal easily landed the part. Soon after Dayal was completely bit by the acting bug. After earning his B.A. in Media Studies from George Washington, he moved to New York City to pursue his acting career in earnest. He took on a slew of odd jobs to pay the bills, while auditioning for film and TV roles by day. After a few months, however, and still not a single paying acting gig to show for, Dayal packed his bags and traveled to India to take a small role as a reporter in the Bollywood film "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" (2006). After the film wrapped, Dayal moved back to New York City recharged and refreshed. Soon after he began landing commercial acting work for major brands like McDonald's and Nintendo, which only encouraged the struggling young actor to continue pursuing his dream. Before long, however, the commercial gigs had dried up and Dayal was once again left feeling hopeless. But rather than giving up acting altogether, he moved to Los Angeles to take a crack at Hollywood. And as luck would have it, Dayal started landing small acting gigs in major productions almost immediately. In addition to a small part in 2010's fantasy adventure film "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," Dayal landed guest spots on "CSI" (CBS, 2000-15) and "Outsourced" (NBC, 2010-11), before nabbing a recurring part as a computer hacker on AMC's "Rubicon" (2010). Despite being beloved by fans and critics, "Rubicon" was abruptly cancelled after its first season. Undeterred, however, Dayal soon landed his first big break as an intense college student with a love of skateboarding on "90210." Dayal played Raj Kher for 14 episodes on "90210," which made him even more of a hot commodity in Hollywood. In the years that followed his appearance on the hit teen drama, he nabbed a recurring part on the critically-acclaimed family drama "Switched at Birth" (ABC Family 2011-17), as well as films like "Breaking the Girl" (2013) and "California Scheming" (2014). His film career took a much higher-profile turn when he snagged the lead opposite Helen Mirren in Lasse Hallström's restaurant drama "The Hundred-Foot Journey" (2014).
