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Comedian/writer/director/actress Mindy Kaling explains how she feels celebrities should be being better role models for young people around the world.
Mindy Kaling is the star, director and writer of E4 sitcom ‘The Mindy Project’ in which Mindy plays a doctor who is obsessed with love and romance.
She started off as a writer/actress on The Office at the age of twenty four and worked her way up to having her own show on major comedy channel, E4.
Mindy feels strongly about making a difference in the world of Hollywood and in turn, inspiring her fans all over the world to make a difference to stereotypes too.
She says she feels that celebrities are not acting like role models to the young minds of the world and that it makes her angry when they claim they don’t want to be role models and that people shouldn’t look up to them.
“I get angry with people in the public eye who say they’re not a role model, and they don’t want people to look up to them. Because it’s incorrect. It’s important for me to be someone people look up to – most directly, minority girls who want to do what I do. Maybe it’s narcissistic, but I think it’s important.”
Mindy is certainly making a change in the world of television, just by being an Indian woman in the world of comedy. In a recent interview, Mindy was asked why she was the only female doctor on her television show, to which she replied,
‘I’m a f*****g Indian woman who has her own f*****g network television show, OK?’
Unfortunately, the world of television does have a set of stereotypes but it is people like Mindy who are aiming to break these stereotypes which is great and inspiring thing to see. However, she is not always greeted with the enthusiasm she deserves.
She was offered a show by a network but was turned down to play herself because she was not considered attractive or funny enough to play the character.
‘That network is no longer on the air, and The Office went on to be one of NBC’s most hit shows in years. I feel like karmically, I was vindicated, but at the time it felt terrible.’
Mindy Kaling is one of the most inspirational and determined women on our screens right now and hopefully we will see more projects and more work coming from her that will continue to break down barriers.
The Mindy Project is set to start its second series here in the UK later this month.