Nasim Pedrad (; born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

and variety series ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' from 2009 to 2014. She later went on to star in the Fox sitcoms '' Mulaney'' (2014–2015) and ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zo ...

'' (2015–2018), the Fox horror comedy series '' Scream Queens'' (2015), and the TBS science fiction comedy series '' People of Earth'' (2017). Pedrad also created, produced, and starred in the TBS/

The Roku Channel The Roku Channel is an over-the-top video streaming service available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the UK. The service was launched in 2017, and is owned and operated by Roku, Inc. It is the most popular free ad-supported streaming televisio ...

sitcom ''

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

'' (2021–2024). In film, Pedrad has had voice roles in animated films including '' The Lorax'' (2012), and '' Despicable Me 2'' (2013), and starring roles in the comedy films '' Cooties'' (2014) and '' Desperados'' (2020), as well as the live-action ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Pedrad was born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran. Her family left Tehran soon after she was born; her father was able to immigrate to the United States immediately, but Pedrad and her mother were forced to stay in Germany, reuniting with her father when she was three years old. Her younger sister, Nina, is a comedy writer. Nasim graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 2003. She was a member of the UCLA Spring Sing Company.

Career

Early work

Pedrad was a performer with the Sunday Company at The Groundlings. She frequently performed her one-woman show ''Me, Myself & Iran'' at the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

divisions of ImprovOlympic and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. The show was selected for the 2007 HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. She received an ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award as the lead in the comedic spoof ''After School Special''. In 2006, Pedrad made her first television appearance on an episode of ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'' as a waitress with two lines. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on '' The Winner''. She had a recurring role on '' ER'' as Nurse Suri. In 2009, she had a guest appearance on ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...

''. Pedrad joined the cast of ''

'' in 2009 as part of the 35th (2009–2010) season. 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''.

2011–present

In 2011, Pedrad was a recurring voice on the Fox animated series ''

Allen Gregory ''Allen Gregory'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom created by Jonah Hill, Jarrad Paul, and Andrew Mogul for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series follows a pretentious seven-year-old boy named Allen Gregory De Longpre, ...

''. She appeared in 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 the autumn of 2014, she left ''Saturday Night Live'' to star in a new Fox

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

, '' Mulaney''. 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. From 2015 to 2018, Pedrad had a recurring guest role as

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

officer Aly Nelson on the Fox sitcom ''

''. She portrayed Gigi Caldwell in Season One of the Fox horror-comedy '' Scream Queens''. In 2016, Pedrad appeared in a commercial for

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

alongside comedian Kumail Nanjiani and other ''SNL'' cast members

Cecily Strong Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022. She is the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's histor ...

and Jay Pharoah. In 2017, Pedrad joined the cast of season 2 of the TBS comedy series '' People of Earth''. Later that same year, she also made guest appearances on ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' and ''

Brooklyn Nine-Nine ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American police procedural sitcom television series that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox, and later on NBC, from September 17, 2013, to September 16, 2021, for eight seasons and 153 episodes. Created by Dan G ...

''. In 2020, Pedrad starred as Wesley in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film '' Desperados''. In 2021, Pedrad starred in the TBS TV series ''

'' which she also created, wrote, and directed.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedrad, Nasim 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians American film actresses American impressionists (entertainers) American television actresses American voice actresses American sketch comedians American women comedians American comedians of Iranian descent American actresses of Asian descent UCLA Film School alumni Comedians from California People from Irvine, California Iranian emigrants to the United States 1981 births Living people