A television role inspired the Indian-American actor to help encourage bone-marrow donor registrations and support education efforts in India

Indian-American actor Manish Dayal has built a name for himself through popular television shows and films, but his work away from the screen has also become an important part of his journey. Known for playing Dr. Devon Pravesh in The Resident and Hassan Kadam in The Hundred-Foot Journey, Dayal has used his platform to support causes close to his heart. His interest in bone-marrow donation began after a television role, while his connection to India led him to support efforts aimed at improving education in rural communities.

How 90210 inspired Manish Dayal's bone-marrow campaign

Manish's interest in bone-marrow donation was connected to his role as Raj in 90210. His character was shown dealing with a serious, terminal illness. The storyline eventually led to Dayal being contacted by CureSonia.com, a grassroots campaign that was trying to find a suitable bone-marrow match for a woman named Sonia.

What began as an interaction connected to his television role soon became a cause Manish Dayal wanted to support personally. According to Look To The Stars interview in 2011, he became involved in efforts to spread awareness about bone-marrow donation and later worked with Be The Match on a public-service announcement aimed at encouraging people in the US to register as potential donors.


For Dayal, the focus was not simply on increasing the number of people on donor registries. He particularly wanted more South Asians to understand the importance of registering.

The actor explained that, "To raise awareness, but specifically to increase the number of registrants overall and in particular South Asians. Indians are a relatively new immigrant group to the United States, so there is little knowledge of prevention, registry and what that involves. Typically, minorities wait longer for matches and if more people in general – and especially South Asians – know how easy it is to donate, this can potentially speed up the process for those waiting on lists."

His campaign therefore became an effort to make conversations around bone-marrow donation more familiar, especially among communities that may not have previously known much about the process.

Manish Dayal's education efforts in rural India

Manish Dayal's philanthropic interests have also extended to education. He has worked with Nanubhai, a nonprofit organisation focused on improving educational opportunities in rural India.

The organisation's work includes efforts to improve school curriculums, build schools and support teachers who work with students learning English as a second language. Dayal has described the initiative as particularly meaningful because education played an important role in the lives of earlier generations of Indian immigrants in the US.

Rather than focusing only on individual students, Dayal believes that supporting teachers can create a much larger impact. He has also talked about the importance of giving local educators better resources and training because they can influence thousands of children during their careers.

The broader goal is to help rural schools provide education that can stand closer to the standard available to students in urban areas. Dayal has also spoken about preparing students in these communities to compete for opportunities in India's changing economy.

For the actor, improving education is therefore about creating a system that can continue to benefit students long after an individual project or campaign has ended.

From South Carolina to Hollywood

Born Manish Sudhir Patel on June 17, 1983, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Dayal comes from a Gujarati Indian family. He later adopted his grandfather's first name, Dayal, as his professional surname.

Before pursuing acting, Dayal studied international business at George Washington University. He eventually moved to New York to follow his interest in acting and began building his career through television and film.

His early credits included appearances in 90210 and AMC Network's Rubicon. He later gained wider recognition as Hassan Kadam in The Hundred-Foot Journey, a film that also starred Helen Mirren and Om Puri.

Dayal went on to take on the role of Dr. Devon Pravesh in The Resident, becoming a familiar face to television audiences. While his acting career continues to remain his primary professional focus, his involvement with bone-marrow awareness and education shows another side of his public life.