Bal has taken his passion for the art form to the next level, surpassing dad Bobby, by acting in numerous films and television shows like Sanctuary and R. L. Stein’s “The Haunting Hour”, for which he won the Best Actor award at the 33rd Young Artist Awards in Hollywood, California.
By R. Paul Dhillon
STUDIO CITY – Baljodh “Bal” Nagra always had a passion for the performing arts, taking somewhat after his famous dad – the veteran land developer and Punjabi culture-entertainment pioneer Bobby Nagra, who himself delved in acting as a youngster, including teaching the first ever acting class for Indo-Canadian actors in Vancouver as well as being in early Punjabi films and being part of the Punjabi-Bhangra music scene with his backing for artists like Jazzy B. and Sukshinder Shinda.
Well, Bal has taken his passion for the art form to the next level, surpassing dad Bobby Nagra, by acting in numerous Hollywood films and television shows like Sanctuary and R. L. Stein’s “The Haunting Hour”, for which he won the Best Actor award at the 33rd Young Artist Awards in Hollywood, California. The awards are the equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscars for young actors.
Bal began taking acting courses at the age of 9 2007 age 9 at a prestigious acting school, going on to further his craft at the Young Screen Actors Academy, formerly known as School Creative. The school has allowed to explore many facets of the acting art form, including doing different classes and workshops. He graduated with a full time acting diploma.
Bal and his personal assistant – his mother Jas Nagra, who has put in hundreds of hours taking him to acting classes, to film sets and looking after his scheduling and a go between his agents and producers, were surprised to hear of the nomination from the prestigious young actors’ awards organization.
“We were happy to be just nominated and going to LA in what seemed like our own little Academy Awards,” Bal Nagra told the LINK. “But to win the award was just the icing on the cake as I never expected it as I was competing against 12 other actors in my category.”
The young Nagra won in the TV Series Guest Starring Actor 11-13 category where he tied with Austin Michael Coleman (House MD) for his role as Tim in R. L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour.
In R.L Stine’s, “The Haunting Hour”, episode 10: Alien Candy, Bal plays Tim, who is an uber nerd. Tim and his best friend Walt are obsessed with extraterrestrials. After having an encounter with the school bullies, Walt is approached by the aliens, who are posing as students, they say that he is a possible “Candidate” for their special group.
Tim finds out that Walt is keeping secrets and is furious with his ex-best friend. After the aliens reveal their true forms Walt Realizes that “Candidate” really meant dinner. The Aliens soon realize that since he is a ginger they cannot consume him. Learning so they moving in to target un-aware Tim. When Walt finds out he runs strait to the alien Lair to prevent the death of Tim. Tim and Walt then go running through the school kitchen only to defeat the aliens by showering them with a bucket amount of salt. The next day they come to find a nasty alien surprise in their lunch.
Bal say being nominated and then winning the award for Best Performance is an honour and he is totally invigorated to tackle all roles.
“I am so grateful to have worked with such a great production company and great crew and cast members. It’s amazing to have been recognized in one of the first roles that I did,” he said
