(February 22, 2026) Indian-origin actor Raj Labade was born in Sydney in 2000 during the Olympic Games opening ceremony, to a musically trained mother and a father who migrated from rural Maharashtra, India. Over two decades later, he works across some of Australia’s leading theatre companies, television series and films.
One of his recent projects, The True History of the Life and Death of King Lear & His Three Daughters, captivated Australian audiences. While veteran actor Colin Friels led the production in the title role, another performance lingered in audience memory long after the curtain fell. Raj Labade played Edmund, Gloucester’s illegitimate son who refuses to accept the place society assigns him. The role marked a significant milestone for an actor shaped by two very different worlds.
A childhood of music and migration
Raj is of Anglo-Indian descent. He grew up in a home where art and immigrant ambition coexisted. His mother, from an Irish-Scottish Australian background, trained at the Conservatorium of Music. She is a cello and piano teacher who raised her children around rehearsals, instruments and performance. “My mum is a cello teacher,” he shared in an interview. “She’s always had me performing.” He grew up playing cello and piano, singing, absorbing musical discipline long before he understood what it meant to train professionally.
His father’s journey could not have been more different. Raised in a small sugarcane village in Maharashtra, he migrated to Australia with limited formal education and worked physically demanding jobs including fitting air conditioners, working in restaurants and packing coffee in factories.
If his mother represented creative instinct, his father embodied immigrant resolve. That contrast formed the core of Raj’s outlook. On one side, art was natural. On the other, nothing was to be taken for granted. He often recalls his father’s advice: “If you are going to do something, be the best at it.” Even if it does not promise wealth or prestige. That mindset became his acting philosophy.
Early influences
Raj grew up watching Fawlty Towers and Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean, absorbing timing and restraint. At home there was Western classical music, Indian classical music and plenty of Bollywood in the background. He has said that music trained him more rigorously than acting ever could. In music, a wrong note is unmistakable as there is structure, grading, progression. “I think acting is much easier than music,” he remarked.
Music gave him what he calls psychological structure. The ability to break down something difficult into smaller parts and build steadily. That approach would later become invaluable in rehearsal rooms tackling complex scripts.
From high school stages to WAAPA
Raj began acting in high school, performing in musicals, plays and comedy sketches. At 17, he began his professional career and became best known early on for his role as Lewis in the 2019 Australian feature film Back of the Net. At 18, he was accepted into the prestigious Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
During his three-year training, he built an impressive record. He was awarded the 2020 Speech and Drama Teachers Association Poetry Prize, received the 2021 Vice Chancellor’s Shakespeare Award for Best Production for his performance in Hamlet, and won the 2021 Leslie Anderson Award for Most Outstanding Graduating Actor in his final showcase performance.
Over those three years, he performed across multiple genres and forms, appearing in numerous stage productions and short films before graduating at 21. WAAPA immersed him in Shakespeare, Chekhov and classical technique. He learned how to command language and hold an audience through direct address. But those years also coincided with a more culturally diverse student body, prompting conversations about representation alongside traditional training.
He describes that period as challenging but formative. He earned technique, confidence and support of mentors who believed in him.
The professional leap
Soon after graduation, Raj found himself starring alongside Kate Walsh, Caroline Brazier, Igor Sas and Dalip Sondhi as Davison in the 2022 Perth Festival production of Mary Stuart. It was a significant early career moment, placing him in a high-profile ensemble almost immediately after training. Theatre quickly became his proving ground.
He worked with Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company. His credits include Tell Me I’m Here, Never Closer, The Dictionary of Lost Words and the bold contemporary play Sex Magick.
In 2025, his performance in My Brilliant Career earned him a Green Room Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. He is currently reprising his role in the hit musical, which is touring Australia until May.
Alongside theatre, Raj Labade has also appeared in television. He featured in the Australian adaptation of The Office, the mockumentary sitcom based on the British series of the same name, marking another shift in tone from classical drama to contemporary screen comedy.
A script that felt personal
One of his most meaningful roles came in Sex Magick, where he played an Anglo-Indian character navigating identity and spirituality. “When I read that he’s half Indian, full stop,” he said of the script, “I never thought I’d read something that was written for me like that.” For an actor trained primarily in European classics, that moment of recognition mattered. It expanded the horizon of what kinds of stories he could inhabit without compromise.
The actor with range
At 25, Raj Labade has an impressive career graph. He has worked across major Australian institutions. He has earned prestigious training awards and professional nominations. He moves from a mockumentary sitcom like The Office to Shakespearean tragedy, from musical theatre to contemporary drama.
What makes him compelling is the range of his work, and discipline. He carries the structure of music training and the grit of immigrant work ethic. He understands comedy timing and classical verse. He is equally comfortable in rehearsal rooms, developing new writing and in established institutions staging extraordinary work. If his early career has already delivered defining milestones, the next chapter may well be about building something enduring.
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