Sujata Day: “Build your own table.”
Sujata Day is a Bengali-Indian American actress, creator, screenwriter and director born and raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. For die-hard Issa Rae fans, she’s better known as CeeCee from the hit 2011 web-series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and/or Sarah from HBO’s Insecure. Recently, her directorial-debut and award-winning feature film, Definition Please was released on Netflix — which is only one of many milestones she’s reached as a groundbreaking South Asian creator.
Sujata’s creative career path has been nonlinear — but her interest in the arts began early on. Now based in Los Angeles, Sujata had intentionally mapped out her career path and goals ahead of time. Despite going to college to study engineering, she had bigger plans to use that degree and move out west to pursue a professional acting career. Although she didn’t know at the time, Sujata had set herself up to enter the world of entertainment and performing arts by delving into dancing (ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, and East Indian folk and classical dance), writing, acting and singing from a very young age. Her interests led her to continue to study and perform in school and community productions before eventually moving out to Hollywood to pursue her dreams.
When asked about the origins of her journey as a South Asian creator and performing artist she says: “I didn’t know this was the path I wanted to go on — but I started dancing, acting and participating in school plays when I was in elementary school. I was taking Bharatnatyam classes at the temple every Sunday. I was taking weekly singing voice lessons - and I really enjoyed doing all those things. And yet, I was also really good at Math and Science in school. I was in high school musicals and plays, and I was writing short stories and getting published. I was in high school when I decided on my own that I’d go down this path without even telling anyone. I was part of the ensemble cast in Showboat, which was a musical, and I had one line in it which made everyone laugh every single night. For any comedian, they can tell you that once you get your first laugh you just keep chasing it. And that’s what happened to me.”
Sujata’s breakout star role came in 2011 after connecting with actress, writer and producer Issa Rae on Twitter and landing the part of CeeCee on her YouTube comedy-web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. Sujata considers Issa Rae as her greatest influence and states how being on the show was one of the best experiences of her life. “It was really cool to take a chance and recognize that the story she was telling was important.” Over the years, Sujata has gone on to star in four recurring seasons of HBO’s hit show Insecure, written and directed a 2017 short film, Cowboy and Indian, and written, directed and starred in her 2020 debut film Definition Please.
When asked about what her creative “mantra” is, she immediately states “Build your own table.” She explains, “Let’s not aim so low to ask why we can’t have a seat at the table — let’s create our own table and invite like-minded people so that we don’t have to depend on others.” Her fascination with diversity within Indian culture and telling stories from the South Asian perspective drive her creative works.
Sujata drew inspiration from cool, independent films such as You Can Count On Me, Eighth Grade, Monsoon Wedding and from her own life for Definition Please. “The story for this film came from a little thing that happened to me in my real life. I always remembered the moment of losing a spelling bee — and there was my sketch; about one woman who didn't live up to her potential. You can find Sujata’s work on Netflix or her official website, https://www.sujataday.com/.