Nasim Pedrad

Nasim Pedrad (born November 18, 1981) is an Iranian-American comic actress currently appearing as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

Life and career

Nasim Pedrad was born in Tehran, Iran, to Arasteh Amani and Parviz Pedrad. Pedrad and her parents lived in Tehran until 1984, before emigrating to the United States when Nasim was two years old. Her younger sister is comedy writer Nina Pedrad, who wrote for 30 Rock during its final two seasons and currently on New Girl. Both sisters are fluent in Persian.^[1] She was raised in Irvine, California, and graduated from University High School, (and incidentally the same high school alma mater of former SNL cast member, Will Ferrell) and the UCLA School of Theatre in 2003^[2] and was a member of the UCLA Spring Sing Company.

Pedrad was a performer with the Sunday Company at The Groundlings and had frequently performed her one-woman show Me, Myself & Iran at the Los Angeles divisions of ImprovOlympic and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The show was selected for the 2007 HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. She has received an LA Weekly Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award as the lead in the comedic spoof After School Special.^[2]

Pedrad has guest-starred on Gilmore Girls and from 2007 to 2009 had a recurring role on ER^[2] as Nurse Suri. In 2011, she was a recurring voice on the Fox animated series Allen Gregory. She appeared with a small role in the 2011 film No Strings Attached. In 2012 she had a supporting voice role in The Lorax and a small appearance in The Dictator. In 2013 she had another supporting voice role in Despicable Me 2.

Saturday Night Live

Pedrad joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2009 as part of the 35th (2009–2010) season. Pedrad is one of a handful of cast members (joining the Italian-born Tony Rosato, the New Zealand-born Pamela Stephenson, the English-born Morwenna Banks, and the Chilean-born Horatio Sanz) to be born outside North America. As of the 2011–2012 season, Pedrad is now a repertory player after two years of being a featured player, and, with the departures of Kristen Wiig and Abby Elliott, is the longest-tenured active female cast member.

Recurring characters

• Bedelia, a teenager who spends more time with her parents than with her friends.
• Li'l Blaster, co-host of Underground Rock Minute with DJ Supersoak (Jason Sudeikis) and MC George Castanza (Jay Pharoah).
• Pippa, one of the back-up singers on What Up With That?.
• Hu Jintao's translator at the G20 Summit meetings.
• Wanda Ramirez, one of the anchors at WXPD News. Was originally a generic news anchor character in a sketch on the Emma Stone/Kings of Leon episode that satirized scary news stories about teenagers following dangerous trends, but was incorporated into the Herb Welch sketches starting with the episode hosted by Justin Timberlake with musical guest Lady Gaga.
• Nancy, one of the singing sisters on The Lawrence Welk Show.
• Shallon, a school student who constantly frustrates people of authority.

Impressions

• Arianna Huffington
• Kim Kardashian
• M.I.A
• Aziz Ansari
• Nicki Minaj
• Kelly Ripa
• Barbara Walters
• Kristin Chenoweth

References

External links

• Nasim Pedrad at the Internet Movie Database