Mindy Kaling Biography

MINDY KALING

Date of Birth: June 24, 1979

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Indian immigrants, Mindy Kaling was born Vera Mindy Chokalingam. She graduated from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private Cambridge school in 1997.

Mindy attended to Danforth College the following year, where she joined the improv comedy troupe The Dog Day Players, as well as writing for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, the college’s humor magazine.

She graduated from Danforth in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in playwriting. While a student at Danforth, she worked as an intern on The Late Night with Conan O’Brien, but later described herself as being a terrible intern because she was a "Conan stalker."

After college, Mindy moved to New York City where she did stand-up comedy. It wasn’t until 2004 that she got her big break on the American version of the popular British TV sitcom The Office, playing Kelly Kapoor, a customer service rep, who wanted to be in love and married. Mindy also wrote 22 episodes of the show, went on to direct two episodes and became a producer of the show in 2006. As a producer/writer of the show, she was received five Emmy nominations.

Mindy left the series after its eighth season to produce another comedy series. She pitched a new show to Fox called The Mindy Project, which she would not only star in, but write and produce. The show premiered in 2012 on the Fox Network. Mindy played a romantically frustrated obstetrician, balancing her personal and professional life. The series was a huge hit during its run. Fox canceled the show after three seasons but it was then picked up by Hulu for an upcoming fourth season.

Mindy has also appeared in several films. Her movie debut was in the 2005 comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin starring her The Office co-star Steve Carell. She's had several small roles in films, including Unaccompanied Minors and License to Wed. Mindy also appeared in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, playing a tour guide. She has voiced characters in the animated films Despicable Me, Wreck-It Ralph and Inside Out (2015). Other movies include No Strings Attached (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012) and The Night Before (2015). In 2018 Mindy starred as Mrs. Who in the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel A Wrinkle in Time, opposite Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon and in Ocean's 8 (2018) with Sandra Bullock.

In 2019, Mindy had the opportunity to star opposite Emma Thompson in her own screenplay, Late Night (2019), about an aging female talk show host (Emma) who reluctantly hires a female staff writer (Mindy).

Mindy, who lives in Los Angeles, made the 2013 list of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. In December 2017, she became a single mother when she gave birth to a daughter, Katherine Swati Kaling.

Filmography:

Ocean's 8 (2018)
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
The Night Before (2015)
Inside Out (2015)
This Is The End (2013)
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
No Strings Attached (2011)
Despicable Me (2010)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
License to Wed (2007)
Unaccompanied Minors (2005)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)