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American actress, comedian, and author Mindy Kaling who was known for her offbeat humor, has amassed an estimated net worth of $35 million. The star of the TV show The Mindy Project has displayed her unique way of entertaining the audience with her humor. The show, which ran from 2012 to 2017, has earned her millions as she was paid $150,000 per episode. Though she became well known as Kelly Kapoor on the American sitcom The Office, she has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry.
Mindy Kaling became famous for her roles on the TV shows such as The Office and The Mindy Project, but she has appeared in numerous movies as well. She also has vast experience as a successful voice actor and as well as a standup comedian.
Early Life and Honing Her Talent
Mindy Kaling was born Vera Mindy Chokalingam on June 24, 1979, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was raised by her father, Avudaiappan Chokalingam, an architect, and her mother, Swati Chokalingam, alongside her sibling. Their family is in a middle-class household and lived a comfortable life growing up. She adopted her second name Mindy and has never been called by her first name Vera her entire life. She was named after the TV show Mork & Mindy when her parents were planning to move to the United States and wanted a cute American name for their daughter.
Kaling has graduated from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, which is a private school in Cambridge, in 1997. A year after she graduated, she entered Dartmouth College in 1998, where she became a member of an improvisational comedy troupe called The Dog Day Players. During her stay with the comedic group, she has discovered her talent for comedy and had an interest in it. It was where she had started developing her comedic skills for years. Eventually, she graduated from Dartmouth College in 2001 with a degree in playwriting.
Mindy Kaling's Budding Career
Kaling, who was a 19-year-old sophomore at Dartmouth at the time, was hired as an intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. During her time at the how she has devised her stage name after she discovered that people are having a hard time pronouncing her last name Chokalingam. After she graduated, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, where she experienced the worst job ever as a production assistant. Kaling endured being a production assistant for three months on the psychic show Crossing Over With John Edward before she decided to quit. She said that the experience was depressing. During this time, she is already doing standup comedy as a solo comedian and has toured with Craig Robinson as well before he got into The Office.
In the year 2004, The Office producer Greg Daniels has hired Kaling as writer-performer for the American adaptation of the BBC TV series The Office. Daniels was impressed with Kaling after he read her spec script. Daniels described Kaling as very original, and if anything is lazy or feels phony about the script, she makes sure that she will pounce on it. Kaling was only 24 when she joined The Office writers and was the only woman on their team. She took the role on the show eventually and debuted as Kelly Kapoor on the second episode of The Office titled Diversity Day. After her appearances on The Office, she got numerous movie offers, and her movie debut was in the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell. Soon after, her project offers were left and right, and she starred alongside A-list celebrities, including Natalie Portman in the movie No Strings Attached.
Slowly Making Her Way Into Success
With her talent and skills, Kaling has won several awards over the years, and these awards include a Satellite Award, Reader's Choice Award for her book Why Not Me?, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has also been nominated for numerous Emmys over the course of her career. In the year 2012, Time magazine has named Kaling as one of the 100 Most Influential People. She was also named Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine in 2014.
Kaling's success comes with having a lavish lifestyle, and she has purchased different estate over the years. She first purchased a Spanish Bungalow in 2007, which is located in Los Angeles, for $1.575 million. She, later on, sold the 2,674 square feet property in 2018 for $1.995 million. She then moved on to another property when she purchased a 5000 square foot mansion with a pool and an expansive yard for $6.5 million. Her latest purchase was Frank Sinatra's Malibu house which was listed in the market for $11.5 million, but Kaling offered to buy the property for $9.55 million and got it. The extravagant beach house is a 5,800 square foot home that has a pool, spa, and elevator.
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Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Britannica, IMDB