Who Is Lara Raj? Meet The “Triple Threat” Trainee On “The Debut: Dream Academy”

On August 29, the new idol survival show The Debut: Dream Academy (hereon Dream Academy), a joint venture by HYBE and GEFFEN Records, revealed its 20 global contestants who will compete against one another for a chance to debut in an international girl group.

Some of the trainees have already started making a buzz on social media, and Lara Raj is one of them. The 17-year-old is one of the two Indian-origin contestants in the show, the other one being 20-year-old Ezrela from Australia.

A few hours after the trainees were revealed to the world, videos of Lara showcasing her vocal skills started going viral on social media. She already had a modest following of thousands on Instagram, where she posts her vocal covers frequently.

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A post shared by LARA RAJ (@lararajj)

As exciting as Lara’s journey looks ahead, it turns out she has had a pretty eventful past as well! It turns out, she has already established some grounding for herself in the music industry since she was a young artist. In an old interview, Lara described herself as a “triple threat,” having trained as a singer, a dancer, and an actor.

I’m a triple threat, so I sing, dance and act. I dream of being on Broadway and working in the film/TV industry.

— Lara Raj, Voayge LA

The HYBE trainee started her journey to become a performer when she was only 5 years old! She started receiving vocal, dance, and acting training in Dallas, Texas, where she had spent most of her childhood. After spending years performing with the Septien entertainment group, Lara was accepted into their professional program and got an opportunity to move to New York City. She met an agent in Manhattan, and started taking auditions for all kinds of entertainment-related projects including TV, music, theatre, and modeling.

Lara’s perseverence has paid off more than adequately. She appeared on the NBC show The Blacklist, along with in multiple commercials for brans such as Spotify. In 2019, when she was only 14 years old, Lara got to work with Michelle Obama. She appeared in Michelle Obama’s Global Girls Alliance launch campaign video in a principle role, fighting for women’s basic rights to education.

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A post shared by LARA RAJ (@lararajj)

The young artist has dedicated her entire life to performing arts as she spent her middle school years at the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City. For high school, she got accepted into the prestigious LaGuardia High School, where she majored in drama! Music runs in her family as well, given that her older sister Rhea Raj is also a pop singer and songwriter who has appeared on popular platforms including American Idol.

It looks like Lara came fiercely prepared for a spot on the debuting girl group’s lineup, and people are starting to take note already!

she’s actually insane guys pic.twitter.com/XXh5lkh0QD https://t.co/31ojJ3qj61

— skya (@andfuckvmin) August 29, 2023

LARA RAJ being an it girl pic.twitter.com/WrsMGWp977

— RU gay? (@jiwoosprite) August 29, 2023