Nasim Pedrad

Forged on Live Stage

Nasim Pedrad was born in Tehran in 1981. Her family moved to California when she was just three years old, where she grew up under the direct influence of American pop culture. She studied at UCLA's theater school and soon found her place at The Groundlings.

In 2009, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, becoming the first woman of Iranian descent to do so. There she spent five years perfecting impressions of public figures such as Kim Kardashian and Arianna Huffington with a clinical precision that bordered on parody.

And then she decided that supporting roles weren't enough.

The Risk of Going Solo

In 2014, she left the sketch show to film Mulaney. The series didn't meet audience expectations and was canceled after thirteen episodes. But Pedrad didn't let the setback on a mainstream network stop her.

So she turned to supporting roles on television. She found a steady spot on New Girl between 2015 and 2018, playing Aly Nelson. After that setback, she needed a safe environment to rebuild her public image with a drier, less over-the-top style.

Her push for total creative control came with Chad.

Pedrad spent five years developing this project, in which she plays a fourteen-year-old teenager herself (a considerable physical and vocal challenge). The series premiered on TBS in 2021 after overcoming several production problems and changes of direction in the script.

Credits and voice work

In 2019, she appeared in the live-action version of Aladdin. The film surpassed 1,000 million dollars in worldwide box office. Her role as Dalia was one of the few plot changes that earned approval from critics.

In 2024, she voiced the character Valentina in the animated film Despicable Me 4.

The second season of Chad ended up airing on Roku in 2024 after a complicated rights sale. The estimated budget for producing these final episodes exceeded 15 million dollars.