Sunday, June 6

Aziz Ansari

Aziz Ansari (born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and comedian. He stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. Ansari also created and starred in the critically acclaimed, MTV sketch show Human Giant. In December 2009, it was announced that Ansari and Jason Woliner will collaborate in developing three films with Judd Apatow and Universal Pictures. Ansari will appear in the films, and Woliner will direct the projects.

Early life

Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Tamil Muslim parents who emigrated from Tamil Nadu, India. His father is a doctor. Ansari grew up in Bennettsville, South Carolina and attended Marlboro Academy (in Bennettsville). He subsequently attended the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville, SC and New York University. He attended the renowned NYU Stern School of Business and graduated in 2004.
Career

Stand-up comedy
Ansari began his career performing stand-up comedy in New York while attending New York University. He performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre frequently. In 2005, Rolling Stone included him in their annual "Hot List" as their choice for the "Hot Standup", and he won the Jury Award for "Best Standup" at HBO's 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. He tours colleges and music festivals occasionally, and has also toured with the Comedians of Comedy and the 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 2009, near the end of the Glow In The Dark tour, Ansari filmed a DVD/CD special for Comedy Central. The set, titled Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, aired January 17, 2010, with a CD/LP/DVD release on January 19. This new set included many new topics some of which were: Cold Stone, Gay Rights, Facebook and Kanye West.
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 they were unable to accept due to other commitments.
Parks and Recreation
In June 2008, Ansari was announced as the first cast hire for NBC's new comedy from producers of The Office. The show, Parks and Recreation, debuted in April 2009 with Ansari portraying Tom Haverford, who hails from Bennettsville, South Carolina. Ansari has received notable praise from critics, including Yahoo! TV which placed him in the number one spot of their list of "TV MVPs: The Most Valuable Performers of the Fall Season."
Other notable television work
In addition to his work on Parks and Recreation, Ansari appeared on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords as a xenophobic 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. Ansari's character was fired by the hospital and written off the show to allow him to film Parks and Recreation. Aziz was recently chosen to host the MTV Movie Awards on June 6th 2010.
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 Raaaaaaaandy. Apatow liked Ansari's character and commissioned him and Human Giant collaborator Jason Woliner to create online shorts centered around Raaaaaaaandy to promote the film. These shorts proved successful and the Raaaaaaaandy character became the subject of one of the film ideas Ansari and Woliner are currently developing for Apatow Productions. Two other 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.
Personal life

Ansari's comedy style has tended toward discussing aspects of his personal life. “I like talking about things that are going on in my life, because that’s always going to be different and original,” he says. “No one else is gonna be talking about my personal experiences."
Recently he has been working on a mixtape for his "Raaaaaaaandy" character with Dave Sitek from TV On The Radio. No release date has been set. A website has been created to promote the mixtape scence.
Ansari's parents are Tamil Muslims from India, while Ansari himself identifies as an atheist.
Filmography

Films
Year Title Role Other Notes
2006 School for Scoundrels Classmate
2008 The Rocker Aziz
2009 Funny People Randy Springs
Observe and Report Saddamn
I Love You, Man Eugene
2010 Get Him to the Greek Aaron's Co-worker
Television
Television
Year Title Role Other Notes
2007 Flight of the Conchords Sinjay Episode "Drive By"
Human Giant Cast Member Writer, Co-Creator (2007–2008)
2008 Worst Week Morgue Employee
2009 Reno 911! Insurance Representative (3 episodes)
Scrubs Ed Dhandapani (4 episodes)
Parks and Recreation Tom Haverford Regular cast member
2010 Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening Stand-up (in January)
MTV Movie Awards Host
Discography

Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening
Raaaaaaaandy Mixtape (with Dave Sitek)
Source:wikipedia
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