Danny Pudi

Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the comedy television series Community (2009–2015),[1] for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and one nomination for the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, and the voice of Huey on the 2017 reboot of DuckTales.

Danny Pudi
Pudi in July 2013
Born	Daniel Mark Pudi March 10, 1979 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Marquette University
Occupation	Actor comedian writer producer director
Years active	2005–present
Spouse(s)	Bridget Showalter ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	2

Early life

Daniel Mark Pudi[2] was born in Chicago on March 10, 1979,[3] the son of programmer and analyst Teresa (née Komendant)[4] and the late Abraham L. Pudi.[5][6] His parents immigrated to the U.S. and became naturalized citizens: his mother came from the village of Pokośno, Poland;[4] whereas his father came from the village of Poduru, India, and was from a Telugu Christian family.[5][7][8] Pudi grew up speaking Polish with his mother and grandmother.[9]

He grew up on the South Side of Chicago with brother Adam and sister Katherine but attended Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, a northern suburb.[7][10] In 2013, he gave the commencement address at Notre Dame College Prep.[11]

Pudi studied dance in Chicago and attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, graduating with a degree in communication and theatre in 2001.[12] At Marquette, he was the first winner of the Chris Farley Scholarship.[12] Beyond paying for a year of school, the scholarship led to him performing at an improv comedy event featuring Jim Breuer and Dave Chappelle, increasing his interest in studying improv.[7] He performed in summer stock theatre in Wisconsin after Marquette, then studied at The Second City in Chicago.[7]

Career

Pudi became a recruiter for an executive search firm before moving to Los Angeles in 2005 to seek television and film roles.[7][13] His home-based job permitted him to attend auditions, helping him avoid the "struggling actor thing in terms of waiting tables, temping and so on". He performed in several television pilots before joining the cast of Community,[7] which he starred in for six seasons from 2009 to 2015.

He has appeared in multiple television advertisements for such products as Snickers, Verizon, McDonald's, T-Mobile, Pokémon, and Far Cry 4.[7][14][13][15] In 2012, he appeared as a celebrity contestant on GSN's version of The Pyramid with fellow Community cast member Yvette Nicole Brown.

In film, he portrayed Arash in the comedy film Road Trip: Beer Pong,[16] which received mainly negative reviews, and starred in the comedy horror film Knights of Badassdom,[17] which was one of the highlights of Comic Con 2011, according to HitFix.com. He starred in the Jones Street Station music video for "The Understanding".[18] He has made cameo appearances in many internet videos, including BriTANicK's "A Monologue for Three". Pudi had a cameo appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the live episode of Hot in Cleveland.

In the autumn of 2014, Pudi appeared in the Off-Broadway musical FOUND.[19] He played the lead role in The Tiger Hunter, an independent film directed by Lena Khan in 2016 and funded through a Kickstarter campaign.[20] In 2017, Pudi began voicing Huey in the DuckTales reboot.[21] He also appeared as Teddy on the NBC sitcom Powerless in the same year.

Pudi began his role as Brad Bakshi in the web TV series Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet that premiered in February 2020. His theater performance for En Garde Arts' series Uncommon Voices was made public in its earliest stages of development in August 2020. The work in progress is entitled Running which tackles his attempt to piece together his relationship with his father which affected his personal identity, cultural background, and his experience with racism throughout his personal life and career.[22]

Personal life

Pudi is married to Bridget Showalter.[23] They met while attending Marquette University in their freshman year.[13][7] Their twins, a son named James Timothy and a daughter named Fiona Leigh, were born in January 2012.[8] Pudi is also a runner and has completed several marathons.[7]

Pudi bought a house in Pasadena in 2014.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Cop Show	Saffa	Short films
2009	Road Trip: Beer Pong	Arash
2009	Nilam Auntie: An International Treasure	Melvin	Short film
2010	Blowout Sale	Glen	Short film; also writer
2011	Fully Loaded	Danny
2011	Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil	Little Boy Blue (voice)
2011	Where the Magic Happens	N/A	Short film; also writer
2012	Leader of the Pack	Doug	Short film
2012	The Guilt Trip	Sanjay	Uncredited
2012	Flatland 2: Sphereland	Puncto (voice)
2013	The Pretty One	Dr. Rao
2013	Vijay and I	Rad
2013	The Knights of Badassdom	Lando
2014	Untucked	N/A	Documentary short; also director, producer and writer
2014	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Com Tech #1	Cameo
2015	Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant	Nathan Vignes
2016	The Tiger Hunter	Sami Malik
2016	Taken to the Cleaner	Billy	Short film
2016	Star Trek Beyond	Fi'Ja	Cameo[25]
2016	After the Sun Fell	Adam
2017	Smurfs: The Lost Village	Brainy Smurf (voice)
2018	Lost Wallet	N/A	Short film; also director
2018	Good Girls Get High	Mr. D
2019	Babysplitters	Jeff Penaras
2020	The Argument	Brett
2021	Flora & Ulysses	Miller	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	ER	Mahir Kardatay	Episode: "Lost in America"
2006	Gilmore Girls	Raj	4 episodes
2006	The West Wing	Santos Aide	Episode: "Two Weeks Out"
2007–2008	Greek	Sanjay	4 episodes
2008	The Bill Engvall Show	Josh	Episode: "A Reptile Dysfunction"
2009–2015	Community	Abed Nadir	110 episodes TV Guide Award for Favorite Ensemble (2012)[26] Nominated–TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2011) Nominated–Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2011–2013)[27]
2011	Cougar Town	Abed Nadir	Uncredited Episode: "Something Good Coming"
2011	Robot Chicken	Various voices	Episode: "The Core, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover"
2011	Chuck	Vali Chandrasekaren	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Hack Off"
2012	The Book Club	Danny	6 episodes; also producer
2013	Hot in Cleveland	Tommy	Episode: "It's Alive"
2013	Royal Pains	Garrett	Episode: "Pregnant Paws"
2014	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	Levander Hart (voice)	Episode: "Unstank My Hart"
2014	30 for 30 Shorts	N/A	Documentary short; also director, producer and writer
2015	Newsreaders	Ivan Folange	Episode: "How the Sausage Is Made; Lottery Winners Lose"
2015	TripTank	Various voices	4 episodes
2016	Dr. Ken	Topher	Episode: "Dave's Valentine"
2016	Pickle and Peanut	Bike Jumper (voice)	Episode: "Volcano/Bike Jumper"
2016	Great Minds with Dan Harmon	Buddha	Episode: "The Buddha"
2016	Angie Tribeca	Garth Tweedner	Episode: "You've Got Blackmail"
2016	Better Things	Danny	Episode: "Woman Is the Something of the Something"
2017	Powerless	Teddy	12 episodes
2017	The Guest Book	Tim	2 episodes; "Story One" & "Story Ten"
2017	Do You Want to See a Dead Body?	Himself	Episode: "A Body and an Ex-Con"
2017–present	DuckTales	Huey (voice)
2018	Impulse	Beanie	Episode: "They Know Not What They Do"
2018–2020	Harvey Street Kids	Tiny (voice)	28 episodes
2018	Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters	Calvin Reichart	Episode: "A Better World"
2018	Alone Together	Chris	Episode: "Big Bear"
2020–present	Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet	Brad Bakshi	10 episodes
2020	Mira, Royal Detective	Sanjeev Joshi (voice)	Recurring role, 2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2017	Hearthstone	Professor George Herbert Doyle IV

References

1. "Danny Pudi: Community cast - NBC.com". NBC. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
2. "J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication Award Recipients Young Alumnus of the Year Award: DANIEL M. PUDI, COMM '01". Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
3. "Danny Pudi Biography". Fancast. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
4. "Teresa K. Pudi (Komendant)". Poles.org. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
5. "Abraham Pudi: Obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
6. https://www.simkinsfh.com/obituary/Abraham-Pudi
7. Souri, Ranjit (November 2009). "Desis on Cable: Reshma Shetty and Danny Pudi". India Currents. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
8. Wagner, Curt (January 23, 2012). "'Community' star Danny Pudi, wife have twins". Show Patrol. Chicago: RedEye. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
9. "10 things you don't know about Danny Pudi". Marquette Magazine. Marquette University. Spring 2004. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
10. The Bonnie Hunt Show, October 9, 2009.
11. "Danny Pudi of 'Community' Speaking At Notre Dame Graduation". Niles-Morton Grove, IL Patch. May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
12. Etter, Nicole Sweeney. "Breakout star Danny Pudi was a hit at Marquette first". Marquette Magazine. Marquette University. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
13. Halverson, Steve. "'Community' star has ties to Dyersville" Dyersville Commercial, September 16, 2009.
14. "Escape with Melanie Light's Latest Short Film - Dread Central". September 29, 2012.
15. Hughes, William (November 19, 2014). "Danny Pudi and Donald Glover reunite for a video game commercial". The A.V. Club. G/O Media Inc. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
16. Preston Jones & Michael Trotter on Road Trip: Beer Pong, retrieved May 10, 2020
17. Miska, Brad (June 9, 2010). "'Community' Funnyman Grabs His Sword for 'Knights of Badassdom'!". Bloody Disgusting.
18. "Jones Street Station "The Understanding"". YouTube. August 11, 2011.
19. "Community Star Danny Pudi and More Cast in New Musical Found". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
20. Rocha, Kelsey (February 4, 2013). "UCLA alumna Lena Khan fundraises for 'The Tiger Hunter'". Daily Bruin.
21. Petski, Denise (December 16, 2016). "'DuckTales': David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz Among Voice Cast For Disney XD Reboot". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
22. S1 E12: Running | En Garde Arts Presents Uncommon Voices, retrieved August 25, 2020
23. "Weddings; Showalter-Pudi". Telegraph - Herald. Dubuque, Iowa. October 8, 2004. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
24. Beale, Lauren (March 25, 2014). "Danny Pudi buys Pasadena home from Olympic swimmer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
25. Lin, Justin (April 6, 2016). "Who were the STAR TREK BEYOND aliens?". Yomyomf.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
26. "TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites Awards Winners Revealed!". tvguide. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
27. Harp, Justin (June 5, 2012). "Critics' Choice Awards 2012: The nominees in full". Digital Spy.

External links

• Danny Pudi at IMDb
• Danny Pudi on Twitter