Three Influential Indian Americans Among Inaugural AAPI Ambassadors to Channel Lessons From 2020 into Action

Indian American actors Parvesh Cheena and Nik Dodani, and author and filmmaker Soman Chainani are chosen by the AAPI Victory Alliance and AAPI Victory Fund for its inaugural AAPI Ambassador Program. They are among a group of influential AAPIs eager to mobilize the rapidly growing AAPI electorate and advocate on behalf of issues at the forefront of the AAPI community like voting rights, gun violence prevention, mis/disinformation and climate change.

“We created the AAPI Ambassador Program because we realized a relationship between influencers and the AAPI Victory Alliance and AAPI Victory Fund is critical to engaging audiences that have not been connected to politics,” said Varun Nikore, executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance and president of the AAPI Victory Fund President. “2020 was the most pivotal election of our lifetimes and it is no doubt that because of AAPIs all around the country that we were able to flip critical states. But there’s so much more work ahead,” Nikore said. “We have to engage all around the country and pay attention to the youth voting block, which is the largest voting block in the country. Part of this AAPI Ambassador Program speaks to that. The influencers in our program have wide reaches and are determined to ensure that AAPIs around the country engage in the civic process.”

Parvesh Cheena, who currently plays the voice of Zulius in Netflix’s “Centaurworld,” also stars in Apple TV’s comedy series “Mythic Quest.” He will next star in “Shine Vale,” alongside Courtney Cox on Starz, as well as in “Music,” produced by Sia, opposite Kate Hudson and Maddie Ziegler. Cheena also starred in NBC’s ensemble comedy “Connecting,” and joined the cast of the second season of “Family Style,” which debuted September 2020 on Stage13.com, YouTube and Facebook. The actor is best known for his roles as Gupta on “Outsourced” and Sunil on “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” He has voiced many characters on animated shows like Disney Junior’s “Mira” and “T.O.T.S”, Disney’s “The Owl House” and “Transformers: Rescue Bots.”

One of the most-watched emerging talents in the entertainment industry today, Nik Dodani co-founded The Salon, a forum for South Asian artists and executives in entertainment to accelerate their creative development in TV and film through community organizing. Earlier this year, Dodani, along with Reena Singh and Rishi Rajani, announced the inaugural Salon Mentorship Program, a year-long program that will connect aspiring South Asian talent to established members of the entertainment industry.

Throughout last year, Dodani was also active in organizing the South Asian community in support of the Biden/Harris presidential campaign. To kick off the election season, Dodani teamed up with Meena Harris to design and release the “Vote for Aunty” merchandise campaign that celebrated Kamala Harris’ South Asian heritage and raised money for Biden/Harris. He further rallied South Asians from film and TV for a NowThis video to celebrate Harris’ ground-breaking candidacy and to discuss the power of voting, specifically in the South Asian community. Dodani, who wrote, directed, and produced the video, was joined by other Hollywood heavyweights, boosting the video to become one of the most-watched political spots of the cycle.

Following the success of his first video, Dodani re-teamed with Maya and Meena Harris (Kamala Harris’ sister and niece) to produce and star in a follow-up video to help motivate the South Asian community for the Georgia runoff elections. The video was the first in a series of Georgia voting videos from IMPACT, the Indian American Impact Fund. In addition to directing, Dodani co-wrote the video alongside Meena Harris.

Last year, Dodani also rallied fellow entertainers in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, joining efforts to oust former LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey and co-organized a Netflix town hall in support of the #BlackAutisticLivesMatter movement.

The young actor can be seen in Universal’s forthcoming feature adaptation of “Dear Evan Hansen,” based on the Tony Award-winning original stage musical. He stars as the quirky and charismatic Zahid on Netflix’s “Atypical” and recurred in season two of Netflix’s Trinkets. Prior to this, he wrapped a series regular role on CBS’ continuation of the award-winning iconic series “Murphy Brown.” On the film front, Dodani had a starring role in Columbia Picture’s horror “Escape Room” and Netflix’s Alex “Strangelove.” At the start of 2020, Dodani wrapped director Hannah Marks’ sophomore feature, “Mark, Mary & Some Other People,” which will be premiering at Tribeca Film Festival.

Soman Chainani’s debut series, “The School for Good and Evil,” has sold more than 3 million copies, been translated into 30 languages across 6 continents, and will be a major motion picture from Netflix in 2022. Each of the six books in the series has debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. His new book, “Beasts & Beauty,” is releasing on Sept. 28, from HarperCollins.

A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, Chainani began his career as a screenwriter and director, with his films playing at over 150 film festivals around the world. He has been nominated for the Waterstone Prize for Children’s Literature, been named to the Out100, and also received the $100,000 Shasha Grant and the Sun Valley Writer’s Fellowship, both for debut writers.