Nik Dodani

Nik Dodani
Dodani in 2018
Born (1993-12-19) December 19, 1993 (age 31)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.[1]
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
Years active2008–present
Known for

Nik Dodani (born December 19, 1993) is an American actor, writer, and comedian known for his roles as Zahid in the Netflix comedy-drama series Atypical, and Pat Patel in the revival of the popular CBS sitcom Murphy Brown.[2][3]

Career

Acting

Nik Dodani began his acting career in Phoenix-area community theater, his first notable role being Zero in a staged production of Holes based on the novel by Louis Sachar.[4] Dodani made his television debut in season 2 of HBO's The Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow.[4]

On television, Dodani has also appeared in ABC's Big Sky,[4] Netflix's Trinkets, TBS's Angie Tribeca, Comedy Central's Idiotsitter,[5] Freeform's Kevin from Work, and NBC's The Player, among others.[6]

In film, Dodani has appeared in Netflix's Alex Strangelove,[7] Joshua Leonard's independent film Dark Was the Night opposite Marisa Tomei and Charlie Plummer,[8] the Sony Pictures thriller Escape Room,[9] Hannah Marks' feature film Mark, Mary & Some Other People,[10] and Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen as Jared, who was re-conceived as "Jared Kalwani" to celebrate Dodani's casting.[11][12] In July 2024, he appeared in Lee Isaac Chung's Twisters, a follow up to the 1996 film Twister.[13]

In March 2022, it was announced he would lead the New Line Cinema comedy The Parenting, opposite Brandon Flynn, Lisa Kudrow and Brian Cox. The release date is not yet publicly known.[14]

Dodani has voiced characters on numerous animated programs, including Nickelodeon's Big Nate, Disney's The Owl House and Hailey's On It!, and Disney Junior's Mira, Royal Detective.[15][16][17][18] Dodani also voiced a character in the 2022 Disney animated film Strange World.[19]

He made his Broadway debut as Ogie in Waitress from October 19 to November 27, 2021.[20]

Stand-up comedy

Dodani began performing stand-up comedy in 2015 and made his late-night stand-up comedy debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 28, 2018.[21]

Writing and producing

In October 2018, it was announced that Dodani would write the screenplay for the film adaptation of Rakesh Satyal's novel Blue Boy.[22] In March 2022, Dodani launched his own production banner, Cosmic Pomegranate, with creative partner Joey Long.[14][23]

In 2023, Dodani served as a co-producer of Life of Pi on Broadway, a play written by Lolita Chakrabarti as an adaptation of the novel by Yann Martel. Dodani served as an architect of The Power of Pi Project, "a first-of-its-kind effort from a Broadway production to connect with the AAPI community in New York and beyond."[24]

Advocacy

During the 2016 presidential election, Dodani was a producer for MoveOn, where he organized a political comedy tour called Laughter Trumps Hate.[25] He previously worked as a communications consultant at RALLY, an issue advocacy firm based in Hollywood, and as a graphic designer and student organizer on Elizabeth Warren's 2012 Senate campaign.[26]

In 2019, Dodani co-founded The Salon along with Bash Naran and Vinny Chhibber. The Salon is a forum for South Asian creatives in western creative arts. Dodani told The Hindu in 2021, "Our vision is to help the next generation of South Asian talent."[27]

Dodani was active in organizing the South Asian community in support of the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign and in support of Kamala Harris.[28][29] He also played an active role in organizing other entertainers for the Black Lives Matter movement.[30][31]

Personal life

Dodani is of Indian descent and openly gay.[32][33] He graduated from BASIS Scottsdale in 2011 and studied politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles.[34][35]

Filmography

Key
† Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2016 Other People Ron
The Good Neighbor Sanjay
2018 Alex Strangelove Blake
Dark Was the Night Seamus
2019 Escape Room Danny Khan
2021 Mark, Mary & Some Other People Kyle
Dear Evan Hansen Jared Kalwani
2022 Strange World Kardez Voice role
2024 The A-Frame[36] Rishi
Twisters Praveen
TBA The Parenting † Rohan Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Living with Abandon Paku TV movie
2014 The Comeback Harry 2 episodes
Selfie Bookstore Employee 1 episode
2015 Kevin from Work Paul Garfunkle 2 episodes
The Player Solomon Desai 1 episode
2017 Idiotsitter 1 episode
2017–2021 Atypical Zahid Raja 37 episodes
2018 Murphy Brown Pat Patel 13 episodes
Angie Tribeca CRISPIN_GLOVES0FF295 1 episode
2019–2020 Trinkets Chase 6 episodes
2021 The Owl House Gavin (voice) Episode: "Through the Looking Glass Ruins"
2022 Big Nate Randy Betancourt (voice) Recurring cast
Mira, Royal Detective Anish (voice) Episode: "Mikku and Chikku's Hometown Mystery"
2023 Hailey's On It! Thad (voice) Recurring cast

References

  1. ^ "Nik Dodani – Murphy Brown Cast Member". CBS.
  2. ^ Fernandez, Maria Elena. "Atypical Creator Robia Rashid on Autism: 'I Had to Do a Lot of Real Learning'". Vulture. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  3. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 16, 2018). "'Murphy Brown': Jake McDorman To Play Son Avery in CBS Revival; Nik Dodani Cast". Deadline. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Nik Dodani, Fresh Off Broadway, Is Ready to Be the Main Character". Teen Vogue. March 14, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  5. ^ "Nik Dodani Boards 'Alex Strangelove'" Deadline Hollywood, and Netflix's Atypical. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  6. ^ "Scoop: The Player on NBC – Tonight, October 22, 2015" Broadway World. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  7. ^ "Netflix original 'Alex Stangelove' to feature Indian-American actor Nik Dodani" The Times of India. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  8. ^ "Marisa Tomei, Timothy Olyphant Starring in 'Behold My Heart'" Variety. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  9. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (September 22, 2017). "Tyler Labine, 'Insecure's Jay Ellis & Nik Dodani Join Sony's 'The Maze'". Deadline. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  10. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (February 20, 2020). "'Riverdale's Hayley Law, Ben Rosenfield To Star in Open Relationship Comedy 'Mark, Mary & Some Other People' From Hannah Marks". Deadline. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 19, 2020). "Nik Dodani and Colton Ryan Join Universal's 'Dear Evan Hansen' Adaptation". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  12. ^ Lakritz, Talia. "How old the stars of the 'Dear Evan Hansen' movie are compared to their characters". Insider. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  13. ^ Grobar, Matt (May 17, 2023). "'Twisters': Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane, Kiernan Shipka & David Corenswet Among Final Additions To Lee Isaac Chung's Disaster Pic For Uni, Amblin And Warner Bros". Deadline. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Kit, Borys (March 21, 2022). "Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn Join New Line Comedy 'The Parenting' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Dar, Taimur (June 26, 2023). "New characters make their debut in Big Nate Season 2". The Beat. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  16. ^ Petski, Denise (May 17, 2021). "'The Owl House' Renewed For Season 3 By Disney Channel Ahead Of Season 2 Premiere". Deadline. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  17. ^ "'Hailey's On It' starring Auli'i Cravalho, Manny Jacinto premieres on Disney Channel". Yahoo News. June 8, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  18. ^ Yount, Stacey (April 6, 2022). "Mira, Royal Detective to feature four extended-length specials that celebrate Bollywood music and dance". BollySpice.com - The latest movies, interviews in Bollywood. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  19. ^ "Strange World (2022) (B+)". The A.V. Club. November 23, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  20. ^ "Nik Dodani". Playbill. October 19, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  21. ^ "Murphy Brown Star Jokes About Being Gay and Indian on Stephen Colbert". September 29, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  22. ^ "Film News Roundup: 'Murphy Brown' Star Nik Dodani Writing 'Blue Boy' Script". Variety, October 12, 2018.
  23. ^ "Nik Dodani, Fresh Off Broadway, Is Ready to Be the Main Character". Teen Vogue. March 14, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  24. ^ Kumar, Arun (May 1, 2023). "Life of Pi initiative for South Asian and AAPI community - The American Bazaar". Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  25. ^ "Comedy Competition Will Focus on Taking Down Trump" The Interroband. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  26. ^ "Newsmakers" Archived May 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Occidental College. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  27. ^ Bhavani, Divya-Kala (September 24, 2021). "Nik Dodani, Sujata Day, Kiran Deol on the evolving space for Indian-origin creatives in western cinema". The Hindu.
  28. ^ Janes, Chelsea. "Americans react to Kamala Harris's historic victory: 'Look baby, she looks like us.'". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  29. ^ "Kamala Harris as Auntie: How Art Helped Fashion an Iconic Role". KQED. November 23, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  30. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (October 26, 2020). "Padma Lakshmi, Aasif Mandvi, Nik Dodani And More Celebrate Kamala Harris As First South Asian VP Candidate, Discuss Power Of Voting". Deadline. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  31. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (October 12, 2020). "'Atypical' Cast, Biden Campaign And White People 4 Black Lives Team For Election Events". Deadline. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  32. ^ "'Murphy Brown' Star Nik Dodani Explains How Being Gay is a Lot Like Being Indian". Hornet. September 29, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  33. ^ IANS (February 6, 2019). "LGBTQ lives being reflected on screen: Nik Dodani". Business Standard India. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  34. ^ Homegrown (June 8, 2021). "Gay, Indian And Disappointed: Check Out Nik Dodani's Brand Of Stand-Up Comedy". homegrown.co.in. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  35. ^ "Alumni Spotlight on Actor/comedian/activist Nik Dodani '11 – News – BASIS Alumni Association". basisalumni.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  36. ^ The A-Frame Midnight World Premiere