Mindy Kaling

Background

Vera Mindy Chokalingam, better known as Mindy Kaling, was born on June 24, 1979, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Swati Chokalingam, an obstetrician/gynecologist, and Avu Chokalingam, an architect. Her parents were from India. They met while working in a hospital in Nigeria and later moved to the U.S. in 1979; Kaling was born later that year. In 2012, her mother died of pancreatic cancer. In 1997, she graduated from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a Cambridge private school. The following year, she entered Dartmouth College. In 2001, she graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in playwriting. She spent much of college as a classics major, studying Latin, a subject she had studied since seventh grade.

While still in Dartmouth, Kaling interned on the set of “Late Night” with Conan O’Brien. In 2002, she made her Broadway debut in “Matt & Ben,” an off-Broadway drama. The play was co-written by her and her friend Brenda Withers. This play was a massive hit, and it was regarded as one of the ‘Top 10 Theatrical Events of the Year’ by “Time” magazine. In 2005, she landed the role of Kelly Kapoor in the T.V. sitcom “The Office.” She starred in the comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and her debut picture, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” in the same year. “Unaccompanied Minors,” “License to Wed,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” and “Despicable Me” were among the films she appeared in between 2006 and 2010. She lent her voice to the feature “Inside Out” as well as the short film “Riley’s First Date” in 2015.

In the film “The Night Before,” she played the character of Sarah. Her second book, “Why Not Me,” was published during this time. In 2018, she portrayed Mrs. Who in the science fantasy adventure film “A Wrinkle in Time.” She also starred as Amita in Gary Ross’ heist comedy “Ocean’s 8” the same year. She then appeared in “Late Night,” a 2019 American comedy-drama film.

B.J. Novak, whom she met while writing for “The Office,” is a close friend of hers. While writing and acting on the show, the two dated on and off. Novak is the godfather of her two kids. Her daughter, Katherine Swati, was born on December 15, 2017. On September 3, 2020, she gave birth to her second child, a son Spencer Avu. She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on June 10, 2018. Kaling owns 1% of Swansea City, a Welsh soccer team that competes in the E.F.L. Championship.