Mindy Kaling (born June 24th, 1979)
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979), otherwise known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian and writer. Most famous through her role as the creator and star of the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project, she is also known for her role as Kelly Kapoor in the NBC sitcom The Office. Kapoor has served as executive producer and writer for both of these shows.
Net Worth: According to Celebrity Net Worth, Mindy Kaling has a net worth of approximately $15 million.
Personal Life: Kaling was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a Tamil father (an architect) and a Bengali mother (an obstetrician/gynaecologist), both of whom are Hindus from India who met in Nigeria whilst working at the same hospital. Kaling also has an older brother named Vijay Jojo Chokalingam (anti-affirmative action activist). The year Kaling was born the family emigrated. After graduating from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kaling then went on to attend Dartmouth College. Here she became a member of the comedy troupe 'The Dog Day Players' and a writer for the college's humour magazine. Kaling also worked as an intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during her time at college. 2001 saw Kaling graduate from Dartmouth with a bachelor's degree in Playwriting. She then worked as a production assistant in Brooklyn on the Crossing Over With John Edward psychic show - she has said she found this job depressing. She also began to stand-up around New York at this time.
Career: An off Broadway play called Matt & Ben, which Kaling created with her best friend from college, Brenda Withers, was first shown in August 2002, with Kaling playing Benn Affleck and Withers as Matt Damon. The story was essentially a playful idea behind how Damon and Affleck collectively wrote the movie Good Will Hunting. The play was given the title of one of Time magazine's 'Top Ten Theatrical Events of the Year'.
It was 2004 when Kaling was first recognised by The Office producer Greg Daniels. After Daniels looked through one of her spec-scripts, Kaling was recruited as a writer-performer for the show - the only woman on a staff of eight. On the second episode of the series she debuted as the character Kelly Kapoor, and has since written at least 22 episodes and directed The Office webisodes The 3rd Floor. After originally having her contract set to expire at the end of season 7 of the series, when the time came she had it renewed and was also promoted to Executive Producer. The Office was incredibly successful. Kaling and the rest of the team that worked on the series were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series five consecutive times.
'The Mindy Project', a single-camera comedy created by Kaling, was pitched to Fox in 2012. Kaling successfully wrote and directed the series, which was first aired that same year. May 2015 saw the series cancelled with Fox but it was then adopted by Hulu for a fourth season.
Kaling published a memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) in 2011. September 2015 will see her second book, Why Not Me?, published, and will explain the many events that have happened in her life since 2011.
Kaling has also worked or made appearances on a variety of other TV shows, including Curb Your Enthusiasm and Saturday Night Live. Regarding films, she made her debut in The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell before later making an appearance in Unaccompanied Minors. Some of her other work includes voice acting for the Disney animated comedy Wreck-It Ralph and playing the role of a tour guide in the 2009 film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
