Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari, September 2008
Born	February 23, 1983 (1983-02-23) (age 26) Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Actor Comedian Writer Producer
Years active	2004–present
Official website

Aziz Ansari (born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He also created and starred in the critically acclaimed, cult MTV sketch show Human Giant. In November of 2009, it was announced that Mr. Ansari along with collaborator Jason Woliner, is developing three films with Judd Apatow and Universal Pictures. Ansari is attached to star in the projects and Mr. Woliner would direct.^[1]

[edit] Career

[edit] Stand-up comedy

Ansari began his career performing stand-up comedy in New York City while attending college at New York University. He frequently performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In 2005, Rolling Stone included him in their annual "Hot List" as their choice for the "Hot Standup"^[2] and he won the Jury Award for "Best Standup" at HBO's 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.^[3] He occasionally tours colleges and music festivals and has also toured with the Comedians of Comedy and Flight of the Conchords. Ansari headlined his own comedy tour, the Glow in the Dark Tour, in the fall of 2008 and early 2009. In July of 2009, Ansari filmed a DVD/CD special for Comedy Central. The set, titled Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, will air January 17, 2010, with a CD/LP/DVD release on January 19.^[4]

[edit] Human Giant

Human Giant's Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Jason Woliner & Paul Scheer in May 2007

Around the summer of 2005, Ansari began collaborating with fellow comedians Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer (both of the famed improv troupe Respecto Montalban), as well as director Jason Woliner to make short films. The first series created by the group was Shutterbugs, which followed Huebel and Ansari as cutthroat child talent agents. This was followed up by the Illusionators, which starred Ansari and Scheer as Criss Angel-style goth magicians. In mid-2006, MTV greenlit a sketch series from the group which debuted April 5, 2007. The critically acclaimed show completed two seasons. The group was offered a third season, but was unable to accept due to other commitments.

[edit] Parks and Recreation

In June of 2008, Ansari was announced as the first cast hire for NBC's new comedy from producers of The Office. ^[5] The show, Parks and Recreation, debuted in April of 2009. Ansari's performance as Tom Haverford has received notable praise from critics, including Yahoo! TV placing him in the number one spot of their list of "TV MVPs: The Most Valuable Performers of the Fall Season." ^[6]

[edit] Other Notable Television Work

In addition to his work on Parks and Recreation, Ansari appeared on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords.^[5] as a racist fruit vendor. He also had a recurring role in season eight of the ABC sitcom Scrubs as Ed Dhandapani, a new intern to the hospital. His character was fired to write Ansari off the show as he was filming Parks and Recreation.

[edit] Apatow-Universal Development Deal

In the summer of 2009, Ansari appeared in the Judd Apatow film Funny People with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as an energetic stand-up comedian named Randy. The character was so popular with Apatow that he commissioned Ansari and Human Giant collaborator Jason Woliner to create online shorts centered around the character to promote the film. These shorts proved successful and the Randy character became the subject of one of the film ideas Ansari and Woliner are currently developing for Apatow Productions. The other two ideas in development are Let's Do This, a road movie about two motivational speakers and an untitled film about two disgraced astronauts who must return to space to clear their names. ^[7]

[edit] Personal life

Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Indian Tamil parents. He graduated from the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics. Ansari graduated in 2004 from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, where he majored in Marketing. He resides in Los Angeles.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aziz Ansari

• Official website
• The Human Giant
• Aziz Ansari at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] Interviews and articles

• Wall Street Journal Profile - 2009
• Human Giant profile, New York Magazine
• Winner - Jury Award - Best Standup - 2006 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen
• Human Giant Named One of Variety's "10 Comics to Watch" in 2006, Variety
• Interview With Scene Missing Magazine
• Pitchforkmedia - Human Giant Interview, 03.10.08
• Pitchforkmedia - Human Giant Interview, 03.29.07
• Human Giant interview, The Onion AV Club
• "No One Says '9/11.' No One Needs To.", The New York Times
• Human Giant 24 Hour Marathon Coverage, The Onion AV Club
• Human Giant 24 Hour Marathon Coverage, Village Voice
• "Aziz Ansari Will Make You Laugh": 2007 interview by Ranjit Souri in The DesiConnect
• Interview with Aziz Ansari - Liberation Frequency Magazine UK