Kelly Kapoor

Kelly Kapoor
File:Mindykaling.PNG
First appearance	Diversity Day
Created by	Greg Daniels
Portrayed by	Mindy Kaling
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Customer Service Representative
Family	Two parents, five sisters (Rupa, Neepa, Tiffany, one unnamed, and one deceased)

Kelly Kapoor is a fictional character from the US television series, The Office. She is played by Mindy Kaling, who is also a writer and producer for the show.

Overview

Kelly is a customer service representative at the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin. Kelly is the office chatterbox, usually on topics that a teenager might discuss, such as boys, dating, and celebrity gossip. She is Indian American.

Biography

Originally, the character did not have any outstanding personality traits, but in "The Carpet", she became established as having a bubbly personality and being somewhat immature. She tends to engage in long-winded, one-sided conversations on relatively trivial subjects, often to the chagrin of Toby Flenderson, her former cubicle mate (he moved, claiming he was allergic to his desk). Kelly seems also to have the capacity to play dumb, as evidenced by a conspiratorial wink to the camera in "Boys and Girls". Kelly is of Indian descent. She had a sister who passed away and has four living sisters who also enjoy gossip. Her parents were in an arranged marriage. It is revealed that Kelly enjoys shopping, especially online, in the Season Three Episode "The Coup," where Pam purchases some items via the internet and shows them to Kelly, who insists that they have a fashion show by chanting "Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!" until Pam agrees.

Season 1

Kelly is featured in the episode "Diversity Day", where Michael Scott conducts a diversity training seminar for his employees. When Michael suggests everyone state a race they are attracted to, Dwight immediately responds, "Indian", which gets a curious (and rather alarmed) look from her. Kelly leaves to go to a customer meeting and comes back in the middle of a game where everyone in the room has to put a card with a specific race on their forehead, and then must act to everyone as if they were that race. Michael, frustrated that no one is playing properly, attempts to demonstrate how to play, by approaching Kelly as she walks into the room and speaking in a stereotypical Indian dialect. He starts to get offensive, mentioning various Indian stereotypes, such as convenience stores and trying to offer her "Googi googi", to which Kelly responds by slapping him and walking away.

Season 2

Kelly wins the "Spicy Curry" award at the 8th Annual Dundie Awards, prompting her to question Michael as to the reasoning for the award. He said it is because she has "a hot snatch". She dresses up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz on Halloween, which prompts Michael to say, "Interesting take on Dorothy" followed by his suggesting that she wear a soccer uniform and dress like Jess Bhamra, a character of Indian descent in Bend it like Beckham. During the company Christmas party, Kelly secretly gives a kiss to Dwight, possibly due to his comment in "Diversity Day", although this plotline did not develop (Dwight was already dating Angela). Instead, Kelly is involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Ryan Howard, the office temp, and drops hints (often with little subtlety) that she wants to marry him and have children as soon as possible, though he is strongly opposed to it and is not especially interested in her.

Season 3

At an Indian Diwali festival, Kelly's parents criticize Ryan for not making enough money and suggest that she go for a particular, more successful man of Indian descent. When Jim Halpert sees Kelly for the first time after the merger between the Stamford and Scranton branches, he asks her what she has been going on in her life, to which Kelly responds by gossiping excitedly about Tom Cruise's daughter Suri and Brad Pitt's daughter Shiloh, which have nothing to do with her life. She joins Pam and Karen's party in "A Benihana Christmas" with Ryan.

Hurt by Ryan's comments in "Business School," Michael moves Ryan's desk next to Kelly's as a form of punishment. Kelly is excited by the move, though she and Ryan bicker (and passionately make up) constantly. In "The Negotiation" Kelly reveals that Ryan once laughed at her during a date when a boy on a Ferris wheel spilled his milkshake on her. Ryan just replies, "It was funny." She also questions Ryan's bravery, mentioning that he once called her for help when he thought there was a "murderer" in his apartment. All this bickering makes Toby wonder in a talking head interview if Michael purposely put Ryan and Kelly together next to him just to annoy him. Toby comments, "Genius."

In "Safety Training" the office bets on comments and timing Kelly makes when talking to Ryan about Netflix, such as saying "awesome" twelve times and mentioning six romantic comedies.

Trivia

• The Indian surname Kapoor is related to the Kapoor family of famous Bollywood performers.
• Kelly was created because Michael needed to be slapped by a minority in the episode Diversity Day.
• It is revealed in "Michael's Birthday" that Kelly had a sister who died sometime before the episode. This becomes known when she states that Princess Diana's funeral was "the saddest funeral ever... that and my sister's."
• Kelly's parents in "Diwali" were played by Mindy Kaling's real parents.
• She wants to name her and Ryan's future child Usher Jennifer Hudson Kapoor.

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