Nasim Pedrad (Persian: نسیم پدراد; born November 18, 1981) is an American actress, writer, and comedian. She had her breakthrough role as a cast member in the NBC sketch variety series Saturday Night Live (2009–2014). She later went on to star in the Fox sitcoms Mulaney (2014–2015) and New Girl (2015–2018), the Fox horror comedy series Scream Queens (2015), and the TBS science fiction comedy series People of Earth (2017). Pedrad also created, produced, and starred in the TBS sitcom Chad (2021–present).
In film, Pedrad appeared in the romantic comedy No Strings Attached (2011), the animated fantasy The Lorax (2012), the animated comedy Despicable Me 2 (2013), the horror comedy Cooties (2014), the musical fantasy Aladdin (2019), and the comedy Desperados (2020).
Early life
Pedrad was born in Tehran, Iran. Although her father was able to migrate to the United States, Pedrad and her mother had to stay in Germany, reuniting with her father when she was three years old. Her younger sister, Nina, is a comedy writer. They are both fluent in Persian, were raised in Irvine, California, and graduated from University High School. Nasim graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 2003. She was a member of the UCLA Spring Sing Company.
Career
Early work
Pedrad was a performer with the Sunday Company at The Groundlings. She frequently performed her one-woman show Me, Myself & Iran at the Los Angeles divisions of ImprovOlympic and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. The show was selected for the 2007 HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. She received an LA Weekly Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award as the lead in the comedic spoof After School Special.
Pedrad made her first television appearance on an episode of Gilmore Girls. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on The Winner. She had a recurring role on ER as Nurse Suri. In 2009, she had a guest appearance on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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 born outside North America (joining Italian-born Tony Rosato, New Zealand-born Pamela Stephenson, English-born Morwenna Banks, Chilean-born Horatio Sanz, and Australian-born Bowen Yang). Pedrad became a repertory player in the 2011–12 season after two years of being a featured player. Pedrad left SNL in 2014 to work on Mulaney.
Other work
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 animated feature film The Lorax and a small appearance in The Dictator. In 2013, Pedrad had another supporting voice role, in Despicable Me 2. In the autumn of 2014, she left Saturday Night Live to star in a new Fox sitcom, Mulaney. On October 18, 2014, Fox shut down production of the series by reducing the 16-episode order by three episodes. Filming for the thirteenth episode had just been completed prior to the order reduction, and the fourteenth episode was about to enter production.
From 2015 to 2018, Pedrad has a recurring guest role as LAPD officer Aly Nelson on the Fox sitcom New Girl. She portrayed Gigi Caldwell in Season One of the Fox horror-comedy Scream Queens.
In 2016, she appeared in a commercial for Old Navy alongside comedian Kumail Nanjiani and other SNL cast members Cecily Strong and Jay Pharoah.
In 2017, she joined the cast of season 2 of the TBS comedy series People of Earth. Later that same year, she also made guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
In 2020, she starred as Wesley in the Netflix film Desperados.
In 2021, Pedrad starred in the TBS TV series Chad which she also created, wrote, and directed.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The 73 Virgins | Zahra | Short film |
| 2008 | A Thousand Words | The Photographer | Short film |
| 2011 | No Strings Attached | Writer | |
| 2012 | The Dictator | Female GMW Host | |
| 2012 | The Lorax | Isabella Once-ler (voice) | |
| 2013 | Despicable Me 2 | Jillian (voice) | |
| 2014 | Cooties | Rebekkah Halverson | |
| 2019 | Corporate Animals | Suzy | |
| 2019 | Aladdin | Dalia | |
| 2020 | Desperados | Wesley Darya |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Gilmore Girls | Waitress | Episode: “Bridesmaids Revisited” |
| 2007 | The Winner | Waitress | Episode: “What Happens in Albany, Stays in Albany” |
| 2007–2009 | ER | Nurse Suri | 9 episodes |
| 2009 | It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Lucy | Episode: “The Waitress Is Getting Married” |
| 2009–2014, 2018 |
Saturday Night Live | Various characters | 109 episodes |
| 2011 | Allen Gregory | Val / Brinique (voice) | 7 episodes |
| 2013 | The Awesomes | Various voices | 5 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | TripTank | Various voices | 9 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | Mulaney | Jane Parvana | Starring role; 13 episodes |
| 2015–2018 | New Girl | Aly Nelson | Recurring role, 28 episodes |
| 2015 | Scream Queens | Gigi Caldwell | 10 episodes |
| 2016 | The Mindy Project | Dr. Yasmin Maloof | Episode: “Nurses’ Strike” |
| 2017 | People of Earth | Special Agent Alex Foster | 10 episodes |
| 2017 | Big Mouth | Fatima (voice) | Episode: “Girls Are Horny Too” |
| 2017 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Numa | Episode: “Foisted!” |
| 2018 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Kate Peralta | Episode: “DFW” |
| 2018 | No Activity | Unknown | Episode: “Honesty & Action” |
| 2021 | Chad | Chad | Also creator, writer, director, and executive producer |