Karan Brar

Redmond's Fake Accent

Karan Brar broke into the industry without the accent that casting directors were so often looking for. He was eleven when he landed the role of Chirag Gupta in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and he had to work with a dialect coach to fake a background that wasn't his own. He was born in Redmond, Washington. His parents wanted him to stay grounded while he was signing contracts with 20th Century Fox.

That role as the small, mischievous kid was a box office hit. The film grossed more than $75 million worldwide in 2010. Brar returned to the character in the two sequels that followed (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and Dog Days) before puberty pushed him toward different roles.

The pace of television didn't scare him.

Disney quickly signed him for the series Jessie. There he played Ravi Ross for four seasons, then stretched the character into the spin-off Bunk’d until 2018. Earning a fixed salary for seven years on a youth series is a trap for many actors. But Brar used that time to learn how a film set works from the technical side.

The transition after the child-star spotlight

In 2018, he appeared in Pacific Rim: Uprising under the direction of Steven S. DeKnight. It was his first real experience with special-effects cinema and a budget of 150 million dollars. Filming in Australia let him move away from the sitcom kid image he had carried since his childhood in Los Angeles.

The loss of Cameron Boyce in 2019 redefined his priorities.

They were roommates and best friends. After Boyce's death, the actor turned to philanthropy and mental health advocacy. In 2020 he appeared in the Netflix film Hubie Halloween alongside Adam Sandler. Soon after, he moved into voice work, voicing Prince Neel in Mira, Royal Detective.

Brar began taking directing seriously. In 2021 he co-wrote and directed the short film The Messy Truth. His goal was to understand film language from behind the camera so he wouldn't depend solely on calls from casting agents.

New Roles and Directing

By 2023, the actor had left any trace of the Disney label behind. His role in the film The Prank alongside Rita Moreno let him explore dark comedy with a much more acidic tone. The theatrical release in March 2024 confirmed that his ability to carry a plot didn't depend on canned laughter or teen scripts.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2025, the actor lives in Los Angeles, focusing on developing his own scripts. His training includes acting studies at John D’Aquino’s Young Actors Workshop. He remains involved with the foundation created in memory of his co-star to fund epilepsy awareness programs.

The contract for his next independent feature was signed under a strict confidentiality clause in November 2024.