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Nasim Pedrad

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Nasim Pedrad
Pedrad at the PaleyFest Fall TV Previews 2014 for the TV show Mulaney
Born (1981-11-18) November 18, 1981 (age 42)
Tehran, Iran
Occupation(s)Actress, comedian
Years active2005–present

Nasim Pedrad (born November 18, 1981)[1] is an Iranian American actress and comedian. She is best known for her five seasons as a cast member of Saturday Night Live (2009–2014).[1]

Early life

Pedrad was born in Tehran, Iran, to Arasteh Amani and Parviz Pedrad. Pedrad and her parents lived in Tehran until 1984, before immigrating to the United States. Her younger sister is comedy writer Nina Pedrad.[2] Both sisters are fluent in Persian.[3] The sisters were raised in Irvine, California,[4] and graduated from University High School (the same high school of former SNL cast member Will Ferrell). Nasim graduated from UCLA School of Theatre in 2003.[4] She was a member of the UCLA Spring Sing Company.[citation needed]

Career

Early work

Pedrad was a performer with the Sunday Company at The Groundlings.[4] She frequently performed her one-woman show Me, Myself & Iran at the Los Angeles divisions of ImprovOlympic and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The show was selected for the 2007 HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. She received an LA Weekly Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award as the lead in the comedic spoof After School Special.[4]

Pedrad made her first television appearance on an episode of Gilmore Girls. In 2007 she made a cameo appearance on The Winner. She had a recurring role on ER as Nurse Suri.[4] In 2009 she had a guest appearance on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.[5]

Saturday Night Live

Pedrad joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2009 as part of the 35th (2009–2010) season. Pedrad is one of a handful of cast members (joining the Italian-born Tony Rosato, the New Zealand-born Pamela Stephenson, the English-born Morwenna Banks, and the Chilean-born Horatio Sanz) to be born outside North America and being of Iranian ancestry she is the show's first female west Asian cast member. Pedrad became a repertory player in the 2011–12 season after two years of being a featured player. Pedrad left SNL in 2014 to work on Mulaney.[6] However, Mulaney was cancelled in 2015.

Recurring characters

  • Bedelia, a teenage girl who would rather hang out with her parents than her peers
  • Li'l Blaster, co-host of Underground Rock Minute with DJ Supersoak (Jason Sudeikis) and MC George Castanza (Jay Pharoah)
  • Pippa, one of the back-up singers on What Up With That?
  • Hu Jintao's translator at the G20 Summit meetings
  • Wanda Ramirez, one of the anchors at WXPD News
  • Nancy, one of the singing sisters on The Lawrence Welk Show
  • Shallon, a confident elementary-school student who leads guest speakers and her classmates astray
  • Heshy, an ineffective motivational speaker with dubious accomplishments

Impressions

Other work

In 2011, she was a recurring voice on the Fox animated series Allen Gregory. She appeared with a small role in the 2011 film No Strings Attached. In 2012, she had a supporting voice role in the animated feature film The Lorax and a small appearance in The Dictator. In 2013, Pedrad had another supporting voice role in Despicable Me 2. In 2014, She left Saturday Night Live to star in a new Fox sitcom, Mulaney, in the autumn of 2014.[6] On October 18, 2014, Fox shut down production of the series by reducing the 16-episode order by three episodes. Filming for the thirteenth episode had just been completed prior to the order reduction, and the fourteenth episode was about to enter production.[7]

In 2015, she made two guest appearances on New Girl.[8] She will portray a victim in the upcoming Comedy Horror series Scream Queens.[9]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2005 The 73 Virgins Zahra Short film
2008 A Thousand Words The Photographer Short film
2011 No Strings Attached Writer
2012 The Dictator Female GMW Host
2012 The Lorax
2013 Despicable Me 2 Jillian (voice)
2014 Cooties Rebekkah

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2006 Gilmore Girls Waitress Episode: "Bridesmaids Revisited"
2007 The Winner Waitress Episode: "What Happens in Albany, Stays in Albany"
2007–2009 ER Nurse Suri 9 episodes
2009 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Lucy Episode: "The Waitress Is Getting Married"
2009–2014 Saturday Night Live Herself, Various 108 episodes
2009–2012 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday Translator, Woman, Kathy Griffin 3 episodes
2011 Allen Gregory Val, Brinique (voice) 7 episodes
2013 The Awesomes Various voices 5 episodes
2014 TripTank Various voices 4 episodes
2014–2015 Mulaney Jane 13 episodes
2015 New Girl Aly 2 episodes
2015 Scream Queens Gigi Main cast

References

  1. ^ a b "Nasim Pedrad". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  2. ^ Evans, Bradford (5 December 2013). "'30 Rock', 'Parks and Rec', and All the Other Shows You'd Expect Get WGA Nominations". Splitsider. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  3. ^ Nasri, Grace (2010-01-28). "Saturday Night Live Hires First Iranian-Born Cast Member". Iran Times. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Los Angeles - Performers - Nasim Pedrad". ucbtheatre.com. Archived from the original on 19 March 2008.
  5. ^ Seidman, Robert (November 6, 2009). "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League up over 50% without World Series". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Stanhope, Kate (Jul 20, 2014). "Nasim Pedrad Talks Departing SNL for Mulaney: "At Some Point You Have to Leave"". TVGuide.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-09-08.
  7. ^ Nellie Andreeva. "'Mulaney' Order Trimmed To 13 Episodes". Deadline.
  8. ^ Bibel, Sara (January 8, 2015). "Tuesday Final Ratings: No Adjustments to 'Agent Carter', 'Person of Interest' or 'Forever'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  9. ^ Nasim Pedrad Joins Scream Queens

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