Ravi Vasant Patel (born December 18, 1978) is an American actor. He and his sister wrote and directed an autobiographical documentary, ''

Meet the Patels ''Meet the Patels'' is a 2014 American romantic comedy documentary film directed by siblings Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel. The film explores the expectations surrounding marriage in the Patels' first-generation Indian immigrant family and in wi ...

''.

Early life and education

Patel was born in

Freeport, Illinois Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linco ...

to Indian American parents, the son of financial consultant father Vasant Patel and real estate agent mother Champa Patel. He grew up in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

and he graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...

in 2001 with double majors in Economics and International Studies. His sister, Geeta Patel, is a writer and director. An investment banker after college, Patel co-founded poker magazine '' All In'' while living in LA.

Career

Television and film

An emcee job with improvised stand-up in between acts, led to auditions, Patel's first agent, and two dozen commercials in a year. He has been in over 70 national commercials, films and TV shows, most notably ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...

'', '' Scrubs'', ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

'', '' The Comedians'', and '' Hawaii Five-O''. In 2008-09, Patel appeared as George Patil in six episodes on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

's '' Easy Money''. In 2010, he starred in '' Past Life'' on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

. Patel co-directed and starred in ''

'', a documentary that he made with his sister, Geeta Patel which won the audience award at the 2014

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

. The film portrays Patel's autobiographical journey of trying to find an Indian wife. The duo have a deal with

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...

to write and direct a narrative remake of the film. Patel worked in multiple episodes of the

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series ''Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series '' Mas ...

series ''

Master of None ''Master of None'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015, on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, with the first two seasons starring Ansari in the ...

''. From 2015 to 2016, Patel appeared on the

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera '' General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the ...

TV series ''

Grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

. In 2020, Patel also created the CNN-produced docuseries '' Pursuit of Happiness'' which aired on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...

. Patel has also worked in

Indian Cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, K ...

in the show

Bhaag Beanie Bhaag ''Bhaag Beanie Bhaag'' is an Indian romantic comedy web series featuring Swara Bhasker in the lead role. Directed by Abi Varghese, Debbie Rao and Ishaan Nair, it has Mona Ambegaonkar, Girish Kulkarni, stand-up comedians Varun Thakur and Rav ...

Other

Patel is the co-founder of This Bar Saves Lives, which donates a meal packet for every granola bar they sell. He is an active investor in start-ups in health and wellness.

Personal life

Patel is married to actress

Mahaley Patel Mahaley Patel (née Hessam; born September 30, 1987) is an American actress best known for appearances in the films '' Easy A'', '' The DUFF'', and '' Our Show''. Personal life Patel was born in Atlanta, Georgia, as Mahaley Hessam. Her parent ...

with whom he has a daughter named Amelie.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *Ravi Pate
interview on the Tavis Smiley Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Ravi 1978 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male actors of Indian descent Male actors from Illinois People from Freeport, Illinois University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni