Aasif Mandvi

Aasif Hakim Mandviwala, known professionally as Aasif Mandvi (, ), is a British actor. He was a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2006 to 2017. Mandvi's other television work includes the HBO comedy series The Brink and the CBS/Paramount+ psychological drama Evil. His film roles include playing Mr. Aziz in Spider-Man 2 and Commander Zhao in The Last Airbender. His stage work includes appearing on Broadway as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! and in productions of Disgraced, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013.

Early life Mandvi was born in Bombay, in Maharashtra, India, into a Gujarati Muslim family of the Dawoodi Bohra caste.

His family moved to England, when he was a year old, settling in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford. His father, Hakim, who had originally come to work in textiles research at Bradford University, later ran a corner shop. His mother, Fatima, was a nurse. Mandvi attended the independent Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Lane, and he identifies as a "working-class kid from Bradford".

Career

Early After graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in theatre, Mandvi worked as a performer at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort,

On Broadway, Mandvi appeared as Ali Hakim in the 2002 production of Oklahoma! directed by Trevor Nunn.

Mandvi played Melchior in On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and appeared in the docudrama Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom at the Culture Project. In 2012, Mandvi starred in Disgraced at Lincoln Center's Claire Tow Theater. He played the lead role of Amir, a Pakistani- American lawyer struggling with his identity and Islam in the drama by Ayad Akhtar. The play won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mandvi was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance.

Television Mandvi made his television debut as a doorman at the Miami Biltmore Hotel in the episode "Line of Fire" of the series Miami Vice. He has appeared in television shows including ER, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Oz, Ed, The Bedford Diaries, Jericho, Sleeper Cell and various editions of Law & Order, including Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Trial by Jury.

In 2006, Mandvi auditioned for The Daily Show. He was hired immediately and appeared on the show the same day.

In October 2013, during a segment on The Daily Show, Mandvi interviewed Don Yelton of the North Carolina Republican Party office. Comments Yelton made then resulted in his resigning after the interview was aired.

Beginning in June 2015, Mandvi portrayed Rafiq Massoud in the HBO comedy series The Brink. In April 2015, Mandvi appeared on Person of Interest as Sulaiman Khan, the CEO of a software security firm. He was the lead actor, co-writer and producer of the web series Halal in the Family, which premiered on Funny or Die in 2015.

In 2016, Mandvi joined the climate change documentary show Years of Living Dangerously as one of its celebrity correspondents.

Beginning in 2017, Mandvi appeared in three episodes of the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events as Montgomery "Uncle Monty" Montgomery, a herpetologist and distant relative of the Baudelaire children.

In 2019, Mandvi was cast in the Robert and Michelle King supernatural drama series Evil on CBS as Ben Shakir, a carpenter who works as a technical expert, equipment handler and debunker of supernatural phenomena.

Film Mandvi played minor roles in the films The Siege and Die Hard with a Vengeance as well as the title role in Merchant Ivory Productions' film The Mystic Masseur. He had a major supporting role in the independent film American Chai, playing the lead character's roommate, "Engineering Sam." He played the doctor who diagnosed Paul Vitti's (Robert De Niro) panic attacks in Analyze This, and had a role as Mr. Aziz of "Joe's Pizza" in Spider-Man 2. He was also in commercials by Domino's Pizza and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He played the tone deaf doorman Khan in Music and Lyrics. Mandvi at the 2010 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Mandvi played a dentist alongside Ricky Gervais in the 2008 romantic comedy Ghost Town, as well as office employee Bob Spaulding in The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock. Today's Special, which Mandvi co-wrote with Jonathan Bines, premiered at the London Film Festival in October 2009 and New York's Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival on 11 November 2009. He appeared in It's Kind of a Funny Story, a coming-of-age film written and directed by Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck, adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned Vizzini. He also co-starred as a Guantanamo captive in the film The Response, a script based on the transcripts of Combatant Status Review Tribunals convened in Guantanamo in 2004. In M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender (released in 2010) he played a major role as Commander Zhao. Mandvi played the role of Mr. Chetty in the 2013 comedy The Internship and portrayed Ash Vasudevan in the 2014 film Million Dollar Arm.

Personal life On 27 August 2017, Mandvi married his girlfriend of three years, Shaifali Puri, an author and humanitarian, at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. They have one son, born in 2020.

Mandvi has been diagnosed with chronic tinnitus.

In June 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree by the Macaulay Honors College after delivering the commencement speech that year.

Charity work and advocacy Mandvi is involved with disaster-relief organizations such as the charity initiative Relief 4 Pakistan, which assists in flood relief in Pakistan. In 2010, he hosted the "Stand Up for Religious Freedom" comedy event to raise money for the organization. He is also a supporter of the Endometriosis Foundation of America.

Filmography Actor

Film Year Film Role Notes 1990 No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers Terrorist 1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance Arab Cabbie 1996 Eddie Mohammed 1998 The Siege Khalil Saleh 1999 Hook'd Up Indian Guy Analyze This Dr. Shulman Gofer Gorby Random Hearts Electronics Store Salesman ABCD Ashok 2001 3 A.M. Singh American Chai Engineering Sam Peroxide PassionBeaumond 2002 The Mystic Masseur Ganesh RamsumairBook of KingsDr. Mitra Short film 2003 UndermindShark/Roger 2004 Spider-Man 2Mr. Aziz 2005 Sorry, HatersHassan The War WithinAbdul 2006 FreedomlandDr. Anil Chatterjee 2007 Music and LyricsKhan 2008 EavesdropDon Pretty BirdTed the Banker The UnderstudySarfras Ghost TownDr. Prashar 2009 The ProposalBob Spaulding Today's SpecialSamirAlso screenwriter 2010 It's Kind of a Funny StoryDr. Mahmoud The Last AirbenderCommander Zhao 2011 Margin Call Ramesh Shah Dark HorseMahmoud 2012 Premium RushRaj The DictatorDoctor Ruby SparksCyrus Modi 2013 Movie 43 Robert Segment "iBabe" The Internship Mr. Roger Chetty Gods Behaving Badly Maxwell2014 Million Dollar Arm Ash VasudevanLennon or McCartney Himself Short documentary film; interview clip 2016 Mother's Day Russell Undecided: The Movie Roger Ayeels2019 Drunk Parents Nigel Human Capital Godeep2022 Crush Coach Murray Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Ichiro (voice) 2023 The Magician's Elephant The King (voice)

Television

Writer Year Film Notes 2009 Today's Special

Stage

Actor Year Title Role Notes 1993 Suburbia Norman Chaudry 1995 Death Defying Acts Delivery Boy In one-act "Hotline" 1997 Crosscurrents Paul 1998 Sakina's RestaurantOne man play 2002 Oklahoma! Ali Hakim Revival 2012 Disgraced Amir Kapoor Lincoln Center/LCT3

Writer Year Title Notes 1998 Sakina's Restaurant

Radio drama/podcast

Actor Year Title Role Notes 2021 Marvel's Wastelanders: Star-Lord Rattlesnake Pete

Published works The book has been adapted for the American-Indian-Bangladeshi film No Land's Man directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki.