Utkarsh Ambudkar ( ; born December 8, 1983), also known by his stage name UTK the INC, is an American actor, rapper, and singer. He is known for his film roles including '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), '' Game Over, Man!'' (2018), '' Blindspotting'' (2018), ''

Brittany Runs a Marathon ''Brittany Runs a Marathon'' is a 2019 American comedy film written and directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo, in his List of directorial debuts#2019, directorial debut. It stars Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, and Mic ...

'' (2019), ''

The Broken Hearts Gallery ''The Broken Hearts Gallery'' is a 2020 romantic comedy film written and directed by Natalie Krinsky, in her directorial debut. Executive produced by Selena Gomez, the film stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gor ...

'' (2020), ''

Free Guy ''Free Guy'' is a 2021 American action comedy film directed and produced by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, and a story by Lieberman. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudk ...

'' (2021), '' Tick, Tick... Boom!'' (2021), and '' World's Best'' (2023). His television roles include ''

The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its six-season run on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Unive ...

'', '' White Famous'', ''

Never Have I Ever "Never have I ever", also known as "I've never.." or "ten fingers", is a drinking game in which players take turns asking other players about things they have not done. Other players who have done this thing respond by taking a drink. A versi ...

'', '' Mira, Royal Detective'', and ''

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

''. He also appeared in the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

limited series '' The Dropout'' (2022). He made his Broadway debut in

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, singer, filmmaker, rapper, and librettist. He created the Broadway musicals '' In the Heights'' and ''Hamilton'', and the soundtracks for the animated films '' Moana' ...

's improvisational hip-hop show '' Freestyle Love Supreme'' in 2019.

Early life

Utkarsh Ambudkar was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, on December 8, 1983, into an Indian family to a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

father and a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

mother. He grew up in

Gaithersburg, Maryland Gaithersburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the third-largest incorporated city and the ninth-most populous communit ...

, where his parents, who had emigrated from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the 1980s, were research scientists at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. He starred in comedy roles at Thomas S. Wootton High School in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

, and he earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

(BFA) degree from the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 2004. Through his mother, Ambudkar is a descendant of the lawyer and jurist Sir Vembakkam Bhashyam Aiyangar.

Career

Ambudkar is a former VJ for MTV Desi. He appeared in the comedy film '' Pitch Perfect'', as the character Donald, and in the television shows ''

'' and ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

''. He was set to star in the

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 ("brush"). Twelve species ...

series ''Eat, Pray, Thug,'' but the show was not picked up. Ambudkar originated the role of

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

in the developmental readings of ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

''. He formerly played Raj on the sitcom '' Brockmire''. He played Jern in the 2019 film ''

.'' He played Skatch, a con artist, in a deleted scene of the 2020

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

live-action remake of ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

''. That same year, he appeared in Disney's '' Godmothered'', and then in the 2021 action comedy ''

''. In 2020, Ambudkar debuted as the

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...

Chikku in the

Disney Junior Disney Jr. (formerly Disney Junior) is an American pay television network owned by the Disney Branded Television sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Aimed mainly at children two to seven year ...

animated series '' Mira, Royal Detective''. He is currently starring in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

supernatural sitcom ''

'' (2021). He was a member of the musical group "The Beatards." Since 2005, Ambudkar has been a part of hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme under the name UTK the INC. As part of the group, he participated in the limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made his Broadway debut in the group's self-titled show on October 2, 2019. Ambudkar has appeared in several Youtube sketch comedy skits including the comedy groups ''

CollegeHumor Dropout, incorporated as CH Media and formerly known as CollegeHumor, is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles that produces content for release on its streaming service Dropout (streaming platform), Dropout as well as YouTube. Dropou ...

'' and '' Key & Peele''. Ambudkar starred in ''Force Grey: Giant Hunters'' (2016) and ''Force Grey: Lost City of Omu'' (2017), a ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' actual play

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

with Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master, where he played the character Hitch, a rogue with a nefarious past. In 2023, he appeared as a guest player in ''

Critical Role ''Critical Role'' is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 aft ...

'' third campaign, also hosted by Mercer, as the

sorcerer Sorcerer may refer to: Magic * Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources * Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...

Bor'Dor.

Personal life

Ambudkar married in 2019, and has three children. He struggled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

in the early 2010s. In a 2023 interview, he revealed that he has been sober for eight and a half years. He also stated that his lack of sobriety at the time was why he was replaced as Aaron Burr in ''

''. He told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 2019: "It was ego, it was being a daily marijuana user, it was partying at night, it was being preoccupied, growing up as a brown person, feeling unattractive, and seeking validation of the opposite sex to sort of fill a hole, my self-worth."

Discography

*''The Gold Tusk EP'' (2006) *''Members Only EP'' (2012) *''Vanity'' (2019) *''Petty'' (2019)

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Theatre

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ambudkar, Utkarsh 1983 births Living people 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male rappers Actual play performers American male actors of Indian descent American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Indian descent American people of Indian Tamil descent American people of Marathi descent Male actors from Baltimore Rappers from Baltimore Tisch School of the Arts alumni