Aziz Ansari has become the first Asian and the first Indian-American to win Golden Globe for best actor on a night Oprah lights up speculation on White House 2020.
The US-born son of immigrants from Chennai, Ansari, won the award for comedy series ‘Master of None’. He played role of Dev Shah, a 30-year-old actor, in the series .
Last January, he hosted Saturday Night Live and already won an Emmy for writing the series. Thus, an entertainer of Indian-origin received both signal and unprecedented honors.
In an NYT OpEd in 2015, Ansari wrote on the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry. “Even though I’ve sold out Madison Square Garden as a stand-up comedian and have appeared in several films and a TV series, when my phone rings, the roles I’m offered are often defined by ethnicity and often require accents,” he had written.
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Ansari’s became a star as he created his own show whose first two seasons. Despite a nomination last year, he didn’t grab the award.
“I genuinely didn’t think I was going to win because all of the websites said I was going to lose,” he said on stage, adding, “I’m glad we won this one because it would’ve really sucked to lose two of these in a row; it would’ve been a really s***** moment for me, but this is nice.”
Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina to immigrant parents from Tamil Nadu. Fatima, his mother, works in a medical office and Shoukath, father, is a gastroenterologist.
At HBO’s 2006 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, he won the Jury Award for “Best Standup”, after which there was no looking back.
