When people think of the Hamptons, they typically think vacation, sun and relaxation. But for Reshma Shetty, this popular summer hot spot is just another day at work. The actress is currently playing the role of Divya on the USA series Royal Pains.
Shetty’s portrayal of the beautiful, smart, compassionate physician’s assistant is an important aspect to the medical dramedy, as Shetty describes the show. And while her character keeps audiences coming back for more, acting was not always in her cards.
Born in India, Shetty grew up in Lincolnshire County, 100 miles north of London, which explains that fantastic accent of hers. Prior to her junior year of high school, Shetty and her family moved to the United States where she completed high school in the Virginia school system.
Shetty had been playing piano, classical violin and guitar from the age of 8 and continued through her teens in England. “Because I could play all those instruments, I was always in the orchestra, so I was never really asked to sing, but I knew I could,” she says.
Finding herself in a school with a large choir, she tried out in her senior year and was invited to join Honors Choir. While signs were pointing toward a performing arts career, Shetty enrolled at James Madison University, pre-med. Yet, there was always a part of her that wanted more.
“I was doing pre-med and I really wanted to try out for the musicals. I got into the musical revue and The Magic Flute in chorus and I won a competition my freshman year,” she recalls. “A teacher pulled me aside and said ‘Listen, I think you’ve got talent. I think this will be really good for you.’”
After sophomore year, Shetty switched her major to music, cramming in the necessary classes to complete the major and graduate on time. She went on to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music to study opera, where she underwent intense performance training. “It’s one of those schools that if you can get through it, New York auditions are pretty easy,” Shetty remembers.
Upon graduation, Shetty moved to New York, sure of her career choice in performance. “When you’re on the stage and all the training and hard work come together and you make someone else feel something that you feel yourself, it’s fun,” she smiles.
A mere two months after being in New York, a time when young actors normally experience rejection after rejection, Shetty was cast in the national tour of the Broadway musical Bombay Dreams. “I got to travel a lot,” she says. “I learned how you have to look out for yourself when you’re on these tours, adjusting to different places, different stages, different sound systems, and I always had to be on.” When she returned from touring, Shetty had a series of roles, including being in the off-Broadway play Rafta, Rafta …  as well as the 2008 film Steam.
Then came the audition for her current role of Divya, a character she was immediately drawn to, as she was the show. “I thought it was a great fresh idea – there’s nothing on TV about the Hamptons that’s been a medical drama that’s funny and has such characters,” Shetty says. “Divya strikes you off the bat. She’s mysterious. Off the page, she was different. She’s a smart, intelligent, strong woman, which I love about her.” Aside from filming in fabulous locations throughout Long Island and the Hamptons, filming is a fantastic experience in itself. The cast of Royal Pains is extremely close. Shetty calls them “some of the best people I’ve ever worked with – the crew is fabulous, my castmates are my friends.”
Shetty is beginning to get recognized in New York City, where she currently resides, and recalls one experience in particular that truly moved her. “This girl ran up to me. She was Indian, a molecular biologist, and she wanted to tell me how thankful she was that there was a strong Indian woman in television, and I said to her, ‘You’ve just made my life, but you do so much more for the world than I do, so thank you.’”
As an Indian woman, Shetty values the opportunity to portray such a wonderful role. Shetty says there aren’t many options for female Indian roles, though the media is becoming more open to it. “People are beginning to understand diversity isn’t going to go away. There are more faces on television and I think that’s terribly exciting,” she says. “Entertainment is a frontier; everybody watches. If there’s change in entertainment, there will be change throughout. It’s funny how valued that little black box is. It tells us about the world and shows us our part. We have to be responsible with that.”
Aside from filling a void in the television world, Shetty takes the time to give back to the world she lives in. Charity is extremely important to Shetty; and she is very active in Lend a Hand India, which provides vocational programs for teenagers in India who live in small villages and are unable to go to college. She hopes down the road to be able to help the female Indian demographic. “It’s important to me to provide for something that will help down the road, and right now anything I can do that will help people, I will.”    
While this interview is taking place on what should be Shetty’s day off, she is scheduled for another one immediately after, and other appointments after that. It’s a busy day for her, but Shetty admits it’s “good busy,” acknowledging how fortunate she is to go to work and love what she does. “I’m so lucky. Being an actor is such an up-and-down roller coaster ride, and when you’re given a great role with fun people, it’s something you have to appreciate every day.”