Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979), known professionally as Mindy Kaling ( ), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Known for her work on television, she has received a Tony Award and six nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Among other honors, she has also received the National Medal of the Arts in 2021 and the Producers Guild of America's Norman Lear Achievement in Television Award in 2023. Kaling founded the production company Kaling International in 2012. Kaling first gained recognition for playing Kelly Kapoor in the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), on which she also worked as a writer. Credited with twenty-four episodes, Kaling was the most prolific writer among the staff. For her work on it, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She gained wider attention for creating, producing and playing the title role in the sitcom The Mindy Project (2012–2017). She then created other television comedies, including Never Have I Ever (2020–2023), The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021–2025), Running Point (2025–present), and Not Suitable for Work (2026). Her film career includes voice roles in Despicable Me (2010), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), and Inside Out (2015) as well as live action roles in No Strings Attached (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Late Night (2019), the last of which she also wrote and produced. She has written two memoirs both reaching The New York Times Best Seller list. She also received a Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop.