‘So Much Better Than a Grave’: Mindy Kaling Receives Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- The Indian American writer, producer, author, director and actress was honored for her work in Television and films.
Indian American writer, producer, author, director and actress Mindy Kaling referenced her Hindu roots at a ceremony in Los Angeles today where she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “I’m Hindu and we practice cremation, which is a beautiful tradition that my ancestors have done for thousands of years,” she said. “And so will I. But also I’m obsessed with legacy. So sometimes I get disappointed that I won’t have a grave. But this, this is so much better than a grave.” She thanked her fans and the audience “who got me here, who believed in me enough to think that I actually was a star, or pick up my book of essays and wonder what’s on my mind.”
She gave a special shoutout to her kids’ godfather B.J. Novak, calling him an “important and integral part of my family,” Novak, a fellow writer, producer and cast member on “The Office,” also spoke at the ceremony. Calling Kaling an “incredible mother of three,” he said she “respects and understands [fame] in a very intuitive way because in addition to being a brilliant and wildly successful showrunner, an incredible mother of three, a deep and caring daughter and friend and mentor to so many.”
Kaling would be on the walk of talent if they had one,” Novak added. “You’d be on the walk of friendship. You’d be on the walk of compassionate parenthood, but let’s face it all of these would be terrible field trips, so here you are instead, very deservedly, a person who means so much to so many on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
Kaling and Novak’s close relationship has led to significant dating speculation over the years. But Kaling has maintained that their relationship is platonic. “He’s “a wonderful friend and he’s godparent of both of my kids and he loves children and they’re so attached to him,” she said at The Drew Barrymore Show in 2022. “I think anyone who’s been friends with someone for 18, 19 years and at one point dated and now doesn’t, they maybe understand this.”
Kaling graduated from Dartmouth in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in playwriting. She portrayed Ben Affleck in the off-Broadway play “Matt & Ben,” which she co-wrote with her best friend from college, Brenda Withers, who played Matt Damon. She was 24 when she joined the eight-person writing staff of “The Office” as the only woman. During her eight seasons on the show, she served as both producer and executive producer on over 120 episodes, earning five consecutive nominations for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. She accomplished this while also starring as Kelly Kapoor, writing 26 episodes (more than any other writer), and directing two episodes. She has the barrier-breaking honor of being the first woman of color to be Emmy nominated in any writing category.
Following “The Office,” she went on to create, star in, and executive produce “The Mindy Project” which ran for six seasons, and write, produce and star in her feature film debut “Late Night.” She co-created and executive-produced the Netflix series “Never Have I Ever,” which has been renewed for its third season. The series centers on the complicated life of Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl. She’s an overachieving high school sophomore with a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations. Her HBO Max/Warner Bros. TV comedy series “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” completed it third season on HBO Max last month.
Her latest project “Running Point” on Netflix, which she co-created and for which she is among the executive producers, will release next week. Described by the streaming giant as “a bold twist on the underdog comedy,” it stars Kate Hudson as the newly appointed president of the Los Angeles Waves, one of the most storied professional basketball franchises, after a scandal forces her brother to resign.