Mindy Kaling facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mindy Kaling
Kaling in 2020
Born	Vera Mindy Chokalingam (1979-06-24) June 24, 1979 (age 45) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Dartmouth College (AB)
Occupation	Actress comedian writer producer
Years active	2002–present
Children	3

Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979), known professionally as Mindy Kaling, is a famous American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She is well-known for her work on television shows. Mindy has won a Tony Award and has been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards.

Kaling first became famous for playing Kelly Kapoor in the TV show The Office (2005–2013). She also worked as a writer for this show. Later, she created, produced, and starred in the TV show The Mindy Project (2012–2017). She also created other popular comedy series, like Never Have I Ever (2020–2023).

Her movie roles include voice parts in Despicable Me (2010), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), and Inside Out (2015). She also acted in movies like A Wrinkle in Time (2018) and Ocean's 8 (2018). Mindy has written two books that became bestsellers. She also won a Tony Award for producing the musical A Strange Loop. In 2012, Kaling started her own company, Kaling International.

Early life

Mindy Kaling was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father, Avudaiappan Chokalingam, was an architect. Her mother, Swati Chokalingam, was a doctor who specialized in helping pregnant women. Mindy also has an older brother named Vijay.

Mindy's parents are from India. They met while working at a hospital in Nigeria. Her father was from Chennai and her mother was from Mumbai. The family moved to the United States in 1979, the year Mindy was born. Mindy's mother passed away in 2012.

Mindy has shared that she has never been called Vera, her first name. Her parents started calling her Mindy when her mother was pregnant. They were planning to move to the U.S. and wanted a "cute American name." They liked the name Mindy from the TV show Mork & Mindy. Mindy's full first name, Vera, is the name of a Hindu goddess.

Mindy went to Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge. She graduated in 1997. The next year, she went to Dartmouth College. There, she joined a comedy group called The Dog Day Players. She also sang in an a cappella group called The Rockapellas. Mindy created a comic strip for the college newspaper and wrote for the humor magazine.

Mindy graduated from Dartmouth College in 2001. She earned a degree in playwriting. She had studied Latin since seventh grade. Mindy says that comedy shows like Dr. Katz and Saturday Night Live influenced her comedy style.

Career

Starting her career (2002–2004)

When Mindy was 19 and in college, she interned for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She has said that she never saw families like hers on TV. This gave her a special way of looking at things in her writing. She felt like an outsider, which she learned from being a child of immigrants. She named a character in The Mindy Project after author Jhumpa Lahiri.

After college, Mindy moved to Brooklyn, New York. One of her toughest jobs was working as a production assistant for a psychic show. She found it very "depressing." During this time, Mindy also performed stand-up comedy.

Mindy created her stage name, Kaling, because emcees had trouble saying her last name, Chokalingam. They sometimes made jokes about it. She performed solo and also with comedian Craig Robinson.

In 2002, Mindy starred in an off-Broadway play called Matt & Ben. She wrote this play with her college friend, Brenda Withers. The play was a big hit at a festival in New York. It was even called one of Time magazine's "Top Ten Theatrical Events." The play imagined how actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the movie Good Will Hunting.

Mindy also wrote a blog called Things I've Bought That I Love. She wrote it under the name Mindy Ephron. She thought it was funny to imagine herself as a long-lost sister of writer Nora Ephron.

Working on The Office (2004–2011)

In 2004, Greg Daniels, a producer for The Office, hired Mindy. He was adapting the show from a British TV series. He hired her after reading a script she wrote. He said she was "very original." When Mindy joined The Office, she was 24 years old. She was the only woman writer on a team of eight.

She played the role of Kelly Kapoor in the show. Her character first appeared in the second episode, "Diversity Day." Mindy also appeared in a 2005 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. She was featured on a comedy CD and wrote parts of a Saturday Night Live episode. After her first movie, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, she appeared in Unaccompanied Minors.

Kaling in 2008

Mindy said that Kelly Kapoor is an "exaggerated version" of what the writers thought her personality was like. Mindy also directed a web series for The Office called The 3rd Floor. She directed her first TV episode, "Body Language," in 2010. In 2007, she had a small role in License to Wed with other Office actors. She also appeared in the 2009 movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

In 2011, Mindy signed a new contract to stay with The Office for its eighth season. She was promoted to executive producer. Her contract also included a deal to create a new show. This show later became The Mindy Project. Mindy left The Office after the episode "New Guys" in the ninth season. However, she returned to guest-star in the show's final episode.

In 2011, Mindy published her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). It became a New York Times Best Seller. Her second book, Why Not Me?, came out in 2015. It covered events in her life since 2011. She published a third book, Nothing Like I Imagined, in 2020.

Mindy and the other writers and producers of The Office were nominated many times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2010, she was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode "Niagara." In 2019, Mindy spoke about challenges she faced to get proper credit for her work as a producer. She said she had to prove her contributions to receive her Emmy nomination.

In 2011, she played a doctor named Shira in the movie No Strings Attached. She also appeared as Vanetha in The Five-Year Engagement in 2012.

Producing and film work (2012–present)

Kaling at Montclair Film Festival in 2019

In 2012, Mindy Kaling presented a comedy idea to Fox. This idea became The Mindy Project. Mindy wrote, produced, and starred in the show. Fox started airing the series in 2012. Also in 2012, Kaling started her own production company, Kaling International.

In 2013, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Fox canceled The Mindy Project in May 2015. However, Hulu picked it up for more seasons. In 2017, Mindy announced that the show's sixth season would be its last. The series ended on November 14, 2017.

Mindy voiced Taffyta Muttonfudge in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph. She also voiced Disgust in Pixar's 2015 movie Inside Out. In 2017, NBC created Champions. Mindy was a co-creator, writer, and producer for this show. She also had a guest role on the show, which started in 2018. It was canceled after one season.

In 2018, she played Mrs. Who in A Wrinkle in Time. This was a live-action Disney movie based on the novel. She also starred in Ocean's 8, an all-female version of Ocean's Eleven.

In 2020, Kaling created the Netflix series Never Have I Ever with Lang Fisher. This comedy is partly based on Mindy's own childhood in Boston. It premiered on Netflix on April 27, 2020. The show is about an Indian American high school student dealing with her father's death. The series received good reviews. Many people praised Mindy for showing South Asian characters in new ways in Hollywood.

In 2021, HBO Max announced a Scooby-Doo spin-off series called Velma. Mindy is an executive producer and voices the main character, Velma Dinkley. The series premiered in 2023. It received mixed reviews and was seen as very different from traditional Scooby-Doo.

In 2024, she joined the team as a producer for Anuja. This film was shortlisted for an Oscar in the short live-action category.

Personal life

Mindy Kaling has three children. Her daughter, Katherine, was born in December 2017. Her son, Spencer, was born in September 2020. Her second daughter, Anne, was born in February 2024. She has chosen to keep the identity of her children's father private. Mindy follows Hinduism and wants to raise her children with Hindu traditions.

Mindy is very good friends with B. J. Novak. They met while writing for The Office. Novak has called Kaling "the most important person in my life." They dated on and off during their time on the show. Novak is the godfather to Mindy's first two children.

In 2012, Mindy was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In 2014, Glamour magazine named her one of their Women of the Year. In 2018, she received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College. In June 2024, the Los Angeles Times featured Kaling as an "L.A. Influential" creator. On August 21, 2024, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention to support Kamala Harris.

Filmography

Film

Television

Writing credits

Directing credits

Awards and nominations

Mindy Kaling has received many awards and nominations throughout her career. She has won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Tony Award. She has also been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2013, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In March 2023, she received the National Medal of Arts from U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. She also received the Producers Guild of America's Norman Lear Achievement in Television Award.

In 2013, Entertainment Weekly called Mindy one of the "50 Coolest and Most Creative Entertainers" in Hollywood.

See also

In Spanish: Mindy Kaling para niños