Who is Shelly Desai?
Shelly Desai was born in Bombay, then-British India, on 3 December 1935 – his zodiac sign is Sagittarius, and he holds both American and Indian nationality. He’s an actor with close to 100 credits to his name, while he’s perhaps still known best for his portrayal of Cloaked Figure in the 1996 action science fiction adventure movie “Escape from L. A.”. It was written and directed by John Carpenter, starred Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi and Stacy Keach, and follows Snake Plissken who has been hired by the US government to find and recover a doomsday device from Los Angeles; the movie was nominated for three awards.
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There are rumors circulating the internet claiming that Shelly has retired from acting, however, he’s still quite active in the film industry, and is currently shooting for the upcoming western movie “Something Happened: The Untold Story of Mice and Men”.
Early life and education
Shelly was raised in Bombay by his parents, about whom nothing is known as he respects their privacy. Because he hasn’t mentioned having any siblings, most of Shelly’s fans believe him to be an only child.
The family was rather poor while Shelly was growing up, but this didn’t stop him from dreaming about becoming a famous actor. He appeared in various plays performed at a local high school which he attended, and he was apparently also interested in sports.
Upon matriculating in 1953, Shelly found work to help his family financially, and worked various jobs until he had turned 35, and launched his career in the film industry.
Roles in movies
He made his debut film appearance in the 1970 short fantasy comedy “Item 72-D: The Adventures of Spa and Fon”, and a couple of his following roles were in the 1971 action crime drama “Ginger”, the 1974 fantasy comedy drama “Phantom of the Paradise” and the 1977 drama “Short Eyes”.
He gained recognition in 1987, when cast to play Mr. Verrous in the popular science fiction comedy “Project X”, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and which starred Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt and Willie.
The movie follows an Air Force pilot who has become part of Project X, a top secret military experiment; the movie was nominated for a Political Film Society Award for Human Rights.
In 1990, Shelly played Convict in the horror crime action “Maniac Cop 2”, and a couple of his most notable performances in the ‘90s were in the 1991 adventure crime drama “Thelma & Louise”, the 1994 thriller comedy “The Silence of the Hams”, and the 1999 romantic comedy “Forces of Nature”.
The year 2007 saw him play Farmer in the action adventure comedy “Delta Farce”, directed by C. B. Harding, and which starred Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and DJ Qualls. It follows three Army men who have been dropped at a Mexican village by accident.
Some of Shelly’s other roles in the 2000s were in the horror thriller “No Man’s Land: The Rise of Reeker”, the short drama “Tony”, and the crime horror comedy “How to Be a Serial Killer”, all released in 2008.
He didn’t have many movie roles in the 2010s, and three of his most recent have been in 2017 in the short comedy “The Cross-Up” and the comedy “Sandy Wexler”, and the 2020 short comedy “Big Tony’s Ballet”.
Roles in TV series
Shelly made his debut TV series appearance with his portrayal of Ahjai Sihkan in the 1985 episode “Bye, George” of the comedy drama “St. Elsewhere”, and the remainder of the ‘80s saw him appear in an episode or two of various series, such as the mystery crime drama “Hill Street Blues”, the action crime drama “Hunter”, and the action crime adventure “The A-Team”.
In 1994, he starred in 10 episodes of the animated action adventure “Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?” (voice role), which also starred Jennifer Hale and Scott Menville, and follows the famous thief Carmen Sandiego, and the two detectives Ivy and Zack who are after him; the series won one of the nine awards for which it was nominated. Shelly appeared in only four other series in the ‘90s, including the romantic drama “ER”, and the romantic comedy drama “Martin”.
He had a couple of supporting roles in the 2000s, including in the hit comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, which has been airing since 2000. It was created by Larry David who’s today starring in it, alongside Cheryl Hines and Jeff Garlin, and the series follows the lives of Larry, and his closest friends and family members; the series has won 24 awards, including two Primetime Emmys, while it has been nominated for 153 other awards.
Shelly guest starred in the 2016 episode “Being Frank” of the comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, and most recently, in 2019 he played Allen in the episode “Baby Chip” of the comedy drama “Baskets”.
Other credits
In 1993, Shelly made a guest appearance in an episode of the talk-show “Hollywood Beat”.
Love life and wife
Shelly prefers to keep the details of his love life to himself, and has successfully suppressed the names of all the women (and/or men) whom he has been with from media attention. There are still various rumors circulating the internet, concerning his current marital status and past relationships.
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Some people believe that Shelly has a wife back in India, and that the two have children. He’s spent the majority of his life in the USA, but because he travels to India at least once every year, most of his fans believe that he has someone waiting for him there; Shelly hasn’t addressed these rumors.
There are also those who believe that he has spent his life focused on work, and hasn’t found time for love, but this remains unconfirmed as well.
As of February 2022, Shelly seems to be single, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Shelly is into travelling, and his acting career has taken him all around the world, to nearly all the US states, numerous Canadian cities, and various European and Asian countries, while his favorite city to travel to is London in England.
He was physically active in his 20s and 30s, and enjoyed playing various sports with his friends, while he turned to golf when he was in his 50s; Shelly doesn’t play any sports today, and leads a peaceful life in Los Angeles.
He’s a philanthropist, and has donated money to various charity organizations, mostly to those which aim to improve the quality of life for underprivileged African children.
Shelly has his own favorite actor and actress, Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep, while a couple of his favorite movies include “Silence of the Lambs”, “The World’s Fastest Indian”, and “Amistad”.
Age, height and net worth
Shelly’s age is 86. He has short brown hair and brown eyes, his height is 5ft 7ins (1.7m) and he weighs around 175lbs (80kgs).
As of February 2022, his net worth has been estimated at more than $1 million.
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