Now a VOA Snapshot remembering our past as we look to the future in this, our 60th Anniversary Year.
Stroll through the VOA newsroom and you'll see lots of writers and editors. But if you're a fan of the movies, particularly Indian movies, one of those faces might be familiar.
"I've made some documentaries, I've acted in big screen movies and more, I've acted on television back home and here also," Ravi Khanna said.
He is Ravi Khanna, VOA South Asian news editor by day, movie actor by night.
Ravi came to the United States from India in the 1970s in the midst of a successful acting career. His inquiring nature brought him to the VOA newsroom.
"I landed up on the South Asia desk, which every day keeps me in touch with my own region, which gives me a chance to go back and rediscover my own region, which gives me a very unique capability. I have insider's knowledge and the outsider's perspective," he said.
Ravi had a chance to use that perspective when VOA sent him back to New Delhi as our correspondent in the 1980s. But through the years he never gave up on acting. One of his latest big-screen appearances was in the Hollywood movie 'Contact' with American film star Jodie Foster.
"I was the Indian ambassador. And there is a close up of Jodie Foster where there is only my face and her face. I call it beauty and the beast."
Ravi Khanna's long-term goal is to produce his own movie script about an immigrant couple.
But for now, like someone else famous in the movies, he's a mild-mannered reporter by day, and takes on his other identity only when the opportunity arises.
To write to us about our anniversary, send an email to anniversary@voanews.com. Or, send regular mail to Anniversary, VOA News Now, Washington, D.C. 20237, USA.