ABOUT
D’Lo is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor/writer/comic. His work ranges solo theater and stand up, tv/film, plays, essays and poetry.
His acting credits include: LOOKING, TRANSPARENT, SENSE 8, and MR.ROBOT, and web series EASTSIDERS, DYKE CENTRAL, including a leading role in a ColorCreative & Project Greenlight produced MINIMUM WAGE, and finally his very own web series PRIVATE DICK. He also plays the role of Gio in the feature film DEATH & BOWLING.
In 2020, D’Lo guest starred on NBC’s CONNECTING and also was a part of another BTR collaboration with Pop Culture Collab on his project called NIMZO.
D’Lo was last seen in Billy Eichner’s upcoming movie BROS, a recent episode of QUANTUM LEAP, and RO & SHIRELLE a short buddy comedy w/ Shakina Nayfack.
His work has been awarded grants from the City of Santa Monica, Durfee Foundation, National Performance Network, Ford Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Most recently, D’Lo was awarded the Artist Disruptor Fellowship for TV Writing through the Center for Cultural Performance and 5050x2020 an initiative started by Joey Soloway; as well as the Civic Media Fellowship through USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab funded by the MacArthur Foundation; a Cultural Trailblazer Award from the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, and a Sherwood Award Finalist through CTG.
His solo shows Ramble-Ations, D’FunQT, D’FaQTo Life and To T, or not To T have toured theaters and festivals nationally. He is currently working on his latest solo called Queer Noise with support from CTG's Library Series and LA LGBT Center. His latest installation project called U.N.C.L.E.S. (U Not Crying Leaves Everyone Suffering) will be workshopped in May 2023 in collaboration with Alison De La Cruz and is a continuation of his work around “beautiful mascunlinity” and queer/trans mental health.
His work has been published and/or written about in academic journals, literary anthologies, and print/online journalism sources, such as The LA Times, The Guardian, NBC, and The Advocate. He was invited to be a commentator on CNN, has appeared in Buzzfeed and Fusion videos, and the award-winning documentary PERFORMING GIRL centers his queerstory as a trans artist.
He facilitates ‘writing for performance’ workshops, and created the “Coming Out, Coming Home” writing workshop series for South Asian and/or Immigrant LGBTQ Organizations across the nation, which provide a transformative space for workshop participants to write through their personal narratives and share their truths through a public reading.
MY STORY
As a youngster in Lancaster, California, I never saw any queer characters on TV or in radio and that’s all I had access to. I know my childhood would’ve been different had I seen at least 1 story that was close to mine.
I know that art can heal us. It can suture the chasm between generations,
and it excavates Gods from religions and places the marginalized as holy.
Writing and acting, stand up and storytelling were unplanned. I started as a poet. Fresh out of college, fresh from coming out to my immigrant Tamil-Sri Lankan parents, I moved to New York and was introduced to the work of Susana Cook - an Argentian lesbian comedic theater artist, and that’s when my study of writing for performance started. Eventually, I became known as a comedic solo-based theater artist (who sometimes performed poems).
I had repeatedly put my gender non conforming ass in front of anyone I thought might see my writing and comedic performing talents. Thankfully and humbly, my talent wasn’t denied, but I often had producers/agents say that they didn’t know “what to do” with me. In 2013, I thought I’d come back to LA and give the industry another go, while also producing my own performance work - all in hopes of financial stability and the platform to do more for my communities.
So now, I’m an actor/writer/comic with the majority of my career being in live performance (mostly solo based comedic theater and stand up). While I have acted in many tv/film projects, and have experience in creating webseries, I feel strongly that I have more stories to tell, via tv and film, that are an extension of the stories I share onstage as a disruptor; namely those that center the experiences and lives of queer/trans/non binary folks of color - the people I love the most.
Some of the themes of my work are influenced by and speak to: immigrant experiences in America, queer stories of resilience, journeys through trans masculinity, and QTBIPOC community conversations on mental health and surviving/thriving. My primary motivation for engaging in the practice of comedic/dramedy storytelling (whether on stage,screen or page) is explicitly related to community healing.
For the majority of my artistic career much of my work has revolved around my personal story and the lessons I learned/learn along the way, through the various characters I’ve come across. These lessons seem to lead me into a world of wonder - about the world, about humans, our society and its rules and politics, and ignorance. Art is the tool I use to connect to people, to connect my audiences to other people, and to empower my community. As a result, I create from a place of deep love and understanding for peoples’ contradictions and insecurities, especially my own. And after my attempts at processing, the shit comes out funny most times - because people are funny with their prejudices, biases and ignorance, even the most woke of us...