Mindy Kaling

Her middle name, Mindy, was taken from the TV show, "Mork & Mindy" . Her mother was pregnant with her in Nigeria and that was the only American show they got there. When she met Robin Williams and told him the story, he didnt believe her.

Graduated from Dartmouth College, where she was a member of The Dog Day Players improv troupe, and where she also wrote a comic strip for the campus newspaper called Badly Drawn Girl.

Graduated from Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1997 along with Alison Folland.

Co-wrote the acclaimed play "Matt and Ben", a comedy about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. She played the role of Ben.

Was the first female member of "The Office" writing staff when she began there at age 24.

Is close friends with Web analyst and actor David Harris, who briefly appears in her new comic memoir "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? .

Her mother Swati, an ob/gyn physician, once worked in the same Boston hospital with Ronald Krasinski, the internist father of her "The Office" co-star, John Krasinski.

One of Time Magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Mindy Kalings mother was an ob-gyn doctor, inspiring many of the story lines in "The Mindy Project" .

Is of Indian-American descent.

Counts "Fawlty Towers" among some of her earliest comedic writing influences.

Her parents are Republicans.

(July 17, 2017) Expecting her first child.

(September 9, 2017) Expecting a daughter later this year.

- on being one of only 2 female writers on a staff of 14 for,"The Office" (2005),I want it both ways. David Brent wants to run with the foxes and hunt,with the hounds. And I definitely feel that way, too.

[from Twitter] My heart wants white jeans but my head says no. Kidney,says go for it, spleen is ambivalent. Ovaries say no comment, rather,rudely actually.

I do not think stress is a legitimate topic of conversation, in public,anyway. No one ever wants to hear how stressed out anyone else, because,most of the time everyone is stressed out.

If someone called me chubby, it would no longer be something that kept me up late at night. Being called fat is not like being called stupid or unfunny, which is the worst thing you could ever say to me. Do I envy Jennifer Hudson for being able to lose all that weight and look smokin’ hot? Of course, yes. Do I sometimes look at Gisele Bundchen and wonder how awesome life would be if I never had to wear Spanx? Duh, of course. That’s kind of the point of Gisele Bundchen. And maybe I will, once or twice, for a very short period of time. But on the list of things I want to do in my lifetime, that’s not near the top. I mean, it’s not near the bottom either. I’d say it’s right above “Learn to drive a vespa,” but several notches below “film a chase scene for a movie.

One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.

Nothing gives you confidence like being a member of a small, weirdly specific, hard-to-find demographic.

There was just Mavis and me, but it never seemed lonely because we never stopped talking. I could have an argument, in earnest, about who was the best “Kid” in the Hall, without having to explain who they were. One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about. We never needed best friend gear because I guess with real friends you don’t have to make it official. It just is.

If you believe in yourself and work hard, your dreams will come true,If you believe in yourself and work hard, your dreams will come,There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.

There was no whimsical ‘sip of wine at Thanksgiving’ for us kids while we were still teenagers. This was the Clinton era, and my parents were already worried about the moral deterioration of the country.

I really think guys only need two pairs of shoes. A nice pair of black shoes and a pair of Chuck Taylors.

The expectation that TV women need to be more likeable than men is bullshit and in need of a change.

I am the kind of person who, if my feelings are unrequited, can completely detach from someone emotionally if I simply put my mind to it.

In my entire life, I never once heard either of my parents say they were stressed. That was just not a phrase I grew up being allowed to say. That, and the concept of "Me time".

I can’t for the life of me not eat something that I want to eat. You know how if you turned on a faucet in your sink to wash your hands, the idea of leaving the bathroom without turning it off is insane? That’s how I am about ignoring delicious food.

Every couple of months or so, some boundary breaking article comes out in a nationally published magazine. The article makes a big thesis statement about relationships. Like say how, women don’t need men anymore, or how if you’re a woman over thirty-five, you should just settle with whatever guy is half-way nice to you, or how monogamy is not feasible, or plausible, or enjoyable, for any human. And we should all be swingers, or a study is released that say’s, you don’t have to love your kids anymore or something. They’re the kind of articles that are e-mailed everywhere and I get them forwarded to me about eight times. I will read one of these articles and immediately afterward I’m so swept up in it, I can’t help but think Yes, Yes, that is one-hundred percent right. Finally! Someone has confirmed that little voice in the back of my mind that has always not loved my kids, or I’m so happy I’m that much closer to my swinging lifestyle I’ve always secretly been craving. I’m normal and now it’s a national discussion and others agree and I can feel normal now. But then, a week later I’m thinking, I hate this. I feel awful. This wretched little magazine article has helped convinced more open minded liberal arts graduates that, the nuclear family doesn’t exist without some hideous twist, like the dad is allowed to go to an S & M dungeon once a week or something. It makes me cry because it means that fewer and fewer people are believing it’s cool to want what I want, which is to be married and have kids and love each other in a monogamous, long-lasting relationship.

I lost my mind. I lunged at him and inhaled all of his fries standing up a foot away from the trash can. No food is as delicious as food you eat standing a foot away from a trash can. Ask any possum.

My parents were supportive of my creativity but did not have a lot of patience for whimsy with zero production value. They had stuff to do.

There is a certain type of greasy hair that you get only when you are writing with no breaks.

I think sometimes people think cheerful is a synonym for dumb, so no one is ever cheerful.

Die in a good way, obviously.

No one ever wants to hear how stressed out anyone else is, because most of the time everyone is stressed out. Going on and on in detail about how stressed out I am isn’t conversation. It’ll never lead anywhere. No one is going to say, “Wow, Mindy, you really have it especially bad. I have heard some stories of stress, but this just takes the cake.

Almost every college playwright or sketch or improv comedian was sort of aware of Christopher Durang - even kids in high school. His short plays were so accessible to younger people and I think that was inspirational to me.

We always think of a diet with a big groan. But I think diets are fun. I think it is an American pastime for a lot of women.