How a commercial with Steve Nash launched this B.C. actor’s career

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An online contest changed Arkie Kandola’s life.

Unemployed and living and at his parents’ house after quitting his job driving trucks, Kandola spotted a contest on Facebook offering people a chance to star in a Vitamin Water commercial alongside two-time NBA MVP, Phoenix Suns player and B.C. boy, Steve Nash.

A big basketball and Nash fan, Kandola, now a working Hollywood North actor, submitted a video in which he explained why he was “Nash enough” to be in the commercial. And the rest, as they say, is history.

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“I guess it was my first taste of show biz,” said Kandola who shot the commercial in Arizona a decade ago. “It was fun, light, kind of improvised. I got the taste, if you know what I mean?

“I got to meet a legend who was at the peak of his career. At the same time, I got to watch him play Kobe Bryant. The Lakers were in town. I guess the stars were aligned.”

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Those stars buoyed Kandola and led him to start a YouTube Channel where he created two popular characters, the rapper 2 Turbanz and the pop singer Justinder. The music videos took off and his channel collected 22 million views. But not all the viewers were buying what he was selling.

“It got a lot of attention, but it got some bad attention too. And I started getting death threats, from extremists who looked like me and who were part of the culture. And they thought I was making a mockery of their religion, which of course I wasn’t,” said Kandola. “I got such a dirty taste from it.

“That page, I feel, is just part of my career that’s there.”

But while that part of his life is in the rear-view mirror, he says he won’t deny it exists, and in fact, feels he left a positive, modern mark.

“My characters influenced Punjabi music because before every music video was the same. I felt I was bringing the culture forward and uniting it, because I am Punjabi but I’m also Canadian,” said Kandola who was born in B.C. after his parents and four brothers immigrated from England. “My humour was far ahead of someone who just left the village. So, when they watched my content they were outraged and not understanding that I’m just (making jokes), like Saturday Night Live or MadTV.”

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Eight years ago, Kandola decided to stop uploading to his YouTube channel. Instead, he got an agent and got to work becoming a working actor. The ensuing years were peppered with small parts in TV shows including Prison Break, Siren, The Twilight Zone, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and the feature film Easter Sunday with Jo Koy.

Then he landed the major role of Sunny in the Canadian TV show Our Big Punjabi Family and things began to change. The roles got bigger.

Right now, you can see him in strong supporting roles in Hulu’s How to Die Alone and Hallmark’s Vancouver-shot show Chicken Sisters. The shows dropped Sept. 10 and 13, respectively.

“It’s nice to see how this journey has gone … Now there is opportunity everywhere for characters and artists who look like me,” said Kandola adding, yes, he was once cast as a terrorist.

“Hey, I played the shit out of the character,” said Kandola about his first paid acting gig on the TV show Rogue.

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In addition to acting, Kandola is also a Partner at BMA Films alongside actors/producers Brandon Jay McLaren and Max Topplin. The trio, who united in 2018, are in development with their first feature The Book, which is a Canada-India co-production.

While recent years have been fruitful, Kandola’s career was put on pause in June 2020 after he suffered third degree burns over 18 per cent of his body.

“I had a freak accident in the kitchen, and unfortunately, it ended with myself catching fire. I was fortunate to have my mother in the kitchen with me, and with her quick thinking, the damage wasn’t as bad as I initially had thought. I would spend exactly a month in the burn and trauma unit at VGH.”

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While in hospital, Kandola said one question kept running through his mind: “What am I going to do?”

Then he discovered Punjabi singer/songwriter Gurtêj, a.k.a. NY Virtuoso.

“I came across his stuff on Instagram and I reached out to him in the hospital,” said Kandola. “I said ‘Hey man, you don’t know me, but I want to be on your journey.’ I made a connection. He used to sing to me with his guitar, tears would be flowing. It was the lowest of the low for me, but Gurtêj gave me hope and gave the mojo juice.”

Sadly, that mojo was tested when Kandola’s second eldest brother took his own life in early February 2021. But again, Kandola dug deep and pushed forward with a focus on his creative life.

“Life doesn’t come with a blueprint, but I’m lucky to have angels looking out for me,” said Kandola, noting he chooses optimism as a state of mind. “I wouldn’t be in the position that I am today mentally without the love surrounding me. I’m dumbfounded at how lucky I am. It is as simple as that.”

Dgee@postmedia.com

twitter.com/dana_gee

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