Acting Up

I was born in Pakistan. My family left our home in Lahore seeking new adventures, opportunities, and fast food in America. My parents naturally chose New Jersey for us. My acting career began in Jersey City when in the 6th grade I did Dick Van Dyke's ottoman pratfall for a girl I wanted to make laugh. Reader, she laughed. In high school I was the class clown, voted most likely to become a priest, and ran my own Warhol-esque Factory for the Spirit Committee creating banners for school sports. At Rutgers University I performed for a paying audience for the first time, performing a series of sketches I wrote and starred in. They were 700 audience members strong, more people than I had even met in my life up until then. Students on campus shouted the catchphrase I wrote for my character for the rest of the semester. After graduating, I made my way to NYC. I made a plan to pay my way there by selling cartoons to The New Yorker. Once in the Big Apple I stumbled into the Upright Citizens Brigade where I learned improv and how to get from Astoria to Chelsea without ever going above ground.

I continue to perform in Off-Broadway and regional productions, TV, Film, and Voice Overs. The New Yorker continues to reject my cartoons.