Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actors. Winners and nomi ...

and one nomination for the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy. Since 2020 he has starred as Brad Bakshi in the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced ...

comedy series ''

Mythic Quest ''Mythic Quest'' (known as ''Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet'' for its first season) is an American comedy television series created by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney for Apple TV+. The series premiered on February 7, 2020, and follow ...

''. He was the voice of Huey Duck on the 2017 reboot of '' DuckTales''.

Early life

Daniel Mark Pudi was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

on March 10, 1979, the son of programmer and analyst Teresa (née Komendant) and Abraham L. Pudi (1955–2018). His parents immigrated to the U.S. and became naturalized citizens: his mother came from the village of Pokośno, Poland, and his father came from the village of Poduru, India, and was from a

Telugu Christian Telugu Christians or Telugu Kraistava are a religious community who form the third-largest religious minority in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. According to the Census of India, there are over a million Christians in Andhra ...

family. Pudi grew up speaking Polish with his mother and grandmother. He grew up on the

South Side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and ...

with brother Adam and sister Katherine but attended Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, a northern suburb. In 2013, he gave the commencement address at Notre Dame College Prep. Pudi studied dance in Chicago and attended

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

, graduating with a degree in communication and theatre in 2001. At Marquette, he was the first winner of the

Chris Farley Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...

Scholarship. Beyond paying for a year of school, the scholarship led to him performing at an improv comedy event featuring

Jim Breuer James E. Breuer (born June 21, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, and radio host. He was a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 1998 and starred in the film ''Half Baked'' (1998). Early life Breuer was born ...

and

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

, increasing his interest in studying improv. After Marquette, he performed in summer stock theatre in Wisconsin, studied at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

in Chicago., and joined ''Stir Friday Night!'', a sketch comedy ensemble of Asian-American performers. Other SFN alumni include Steven Yeun.

Career

Pudi became a recruiter for an executive search firm before moving to Los Angeles in 2005 to seek television and film roles. His job, whereby he was a

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

er, permitted him to attend auditions, helping him avoid the "struggling actor thing in terms of waiting tables, temping and so on". He performed in several

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dis ...

s before joining the cast of ''

,'' which he starred in for six seasons from 2009 to 2015. He has appeared in multiple television advertisements for such products as Snickers,

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

, T-Mobile, ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of what each of thos ...

'', and ''

Far Cry 4 ''Far Cry 4'' is a 2014 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to the 2012 video game ''Far Cry 3'', and the fourth main installment in the '' Far Cry'' series. Set in the fiction ...

''. In 2012, he appeared as a celebrity contestant on GSN's version of ''The Pyramid'' with fellow ''Community'' cast member Yvette Nicole Brown. In film, he portrayed Arash in the comedy film '' Road Trip: Beer Pong'', and starred in the comedy horror film '' Knights of Badassdom'', which was one of the highlights of

Comic Con A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

2011, according to HitFix.com. He starred in the Jones Street Station music video for "The Understanding". He has made

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s in many internet videos, including BriTANicK's "A Monologue for Three". Pudi had a cameo appearance in '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', and the live episode of '' Hot in Cleveland'', as well as a cameo in '' Star Trek Beyond''. In the autumn of 2014, Pudi appeared in the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

musical ''FOUND''. He played the lead role in ''

The Tiger Hunter ''The Tiger Hunter'' is a 2016 American comedy film directed by Lena Khan, written by Khan and Sameer Gardezi, and starring Danny Pudi, Jon Heder, Rizwan Manji, Karen David, Iqbal Theba, Samuel Page, Parvesh Cheena, Michael McMillian, and Kevin ...

'', an independent film directed by Lena Khan in 2016 and funded through a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign. In 2017, Pudi began voicing Huey Duck in the '' DuckTales'' reboot. He also appeared as Teddy on the NBC sitcom '' Powerless'' in the same year. Pudi plays Brad Bakshi in the TV series '' Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet'', which premiered in February 2020. His theater performance for En Garde Arts' series Uncommon Voices was made public in August 2020. The work in progress, entitled ''Running'', tackles his attempt to piece together his relationship with his father, which affected his personal identity, cultural background, and his experience with racism throughout his personal life and career. He reunited with ''Community'' co-star Alison Brie in the 2022 film ''

Somebody I Used to Know ''Somebody I Used to Know'' is a 2023 American romantic comedy film directed by Dave Franco and co-written with his wife Alison Brie. The film stars Brie, Jay Ellis, and Kiersey Clemons. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on February 10, 20 ...

'', written by Brie.

Personal life

Pudi is married to Bridget Showalter. They met while attending Marquette University in their freshman year.Halverson, Steve.
'Community' star has ties to Dyersville
''Dyersville Commercial'', September 16, 2009. Their twins, a son and a daughter, were born in January 2012. Pudi is also a runner and has completed several

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s. Pudi bought a house in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, in 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pudi, Danny 1979 births Living people American male actors of Indian descent American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male writers American people of Polish descent Indian people of Polish descent Male actors from Chicago Marquette University alumni 21st-century American male actors