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Mindy Kaling Speaker Biography
Mindy Kaling is an award-winning actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director, best known for her work on "The Office" and "The Mindy Project." In 2012, Kaling founded Kaling International, and her production company was listed in TIME100's Most Influential Companies 2022.
Emmy-nominated writer, producer, New York Times best-selling author, director, actor, and Tony award winner, Mindy Kaling has been named one of the brightest voices of her generation.
At the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Kaling premiered her debut screenplay titled Late Night. With a cast including Emma Thompson, Reid Scott, Ike Barinholtz, Amy Ryan, John Lithgow, and Kaling herself, the film received critical acclaim at the opening weekend of the festival and sold to Amazon Studios for a record-setting $13 million US rights deal. Late Night opened in the US on June 7th, 2019. Emma Thompson was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as ‘Katherine Newbury’ in the film.
Kaling broke out onto the scene at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival with her original stageplay Matt and Ben which she co-wrote with her college roommate Brenda Withers. The play was not only named one of Time magazine's "Top Ten Theatrical Events of The Year" of 2002 but also caught the eye of TV producer Greg Daniels who offered Mindy a job to come work on an NBC television pilot called The Office.
At 24, Kaling joined the eight-person writing staff of The Office as the only woman. Kaling’s contract also allowed her to participate as an actor and she took on the role of celebrity-obsessed "Kelly Kapoor." During her 8 seasons at The Office, Kaling wrote 23 episodes of the show (more than any other writer). Some of the episodes she wrote include fan favorites such as “The Injury,” “The Dundies,” and “Diwali” for which she became the first woman of color to be nominated for an Emmy in any writing category. During her time at The Office, Kaling also directed two episodes and served as both producer and executive producer on over 117 episodes of the series. Kaling and her fellow writers and producers were nominated five consecutive times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
After signing an overall development deal with Universal Television, Kaling created The Mindy Project, which she starred in and executive produced from 2012-2017. Kaling and her fellow writers were nominated for a Writers Guild Awards in the New Series category in 2013. Kaling wrote 25 episodes of the 117 episodes created for the six-season run of the series. In 2018, Kaling created and served as an executive producer on the NBC comedy Champions for which she wrote three of eight episodes.
In 2020, Kaling released the critically acclaimed series, Never Have I Ever for Netflix. The 10-episode series released in May is a modern comedy-of-age comedy about the complicated life of a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl, Devi Vishwakumar. Breakout actress, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan portrays Devi and was cast in the role after submitting to an open call for the role, which welcomed 15,000 submissions. According to Netflix, season 1 of Never Have I Ever reached 40 million homes around the globe in its first four weeks of release. It recently wrapped its fourth and final season. In addition, it was announced that Kaling will write, produce and star in an untitled comedy for Universal opposite Priyanka Chopra. Co-written with Dan Goor, the film will revolve around a big wedding in India and the ensuing culture clashes. The duo is also penning Legally Blonde 3, which will star Reese Witherspoon reprising her role as Elle Woods.
Kaling is also the co-creator and Executive Producer of The Sex Lives of College Girls, which in 2021 had the biggest premiere of any comedy on HBOMax. The show was picked up for a third season in December 2022 after the success of its second season premiere.
Previously, Kaling released a mini-series adaptation of the popular film Four Weddings and a Funeral for Hulu. Kaling served as a writer and executive producer on the project. The series premiered on July 31, 2019.
In between all of her TV ventures, Kaling has released two New York Times best-selling comedic memoirs – Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) in 2011 and Why Not Me in 2015. Kaling released a collection of essays in partnership with Amazon in October 2020 that featured topics including her new role as a single mom, the perks of not having a husband, and her struggle with social anxiety. Most recently, Kaling launched her imprint Mindy's Book Studio for Amazon Publishing, with the mission of publishing titles from new and emerging diverse voices.
As an actor, Kaling has also appeared in many films including Judd Apatow’s The 40-Year Old Virgin, the Oscar-winning Pixar film Inside Out, Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time alongside Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon, and as a part of the star-studded cast of Oceans Eight.
This year, Kaling received the prestigious Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild of America. In 2022, Kaling International was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies. In 2012, Kaling was named to the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World List. She was honored with the 2014 Glamour Women of the Year Award and most recently was a 2019 ELLE Women In Hollywood honoree. In 2018, Kaling delivered an impactful commencement address at Dartmouth College and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.
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