• Aziz Ansari is a famous comedian
  • He starred in the series Parks and Recreation
  • Find out how his life started before all the fame

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari was born on February 23rd, 1983 in Columbia, South Carolina. His parents are from Tamil Nadu, India, which makes him a first-generation Indian-American in his family. He's so close to his parents that they've starred in his award-winning show, Master of None, for three seasons now!

Aziz Ansari's life before fame

Upon graduating from the New York University Stern School of Business in 2004, Aziz also made time for performing in stand-up comedy, where he admits one of his biggest influences was fellow comedian Chris Rock: "When I first started doing stand-up, he was the person I most wanted to be as a comedian, I know his HBO specials by heart", he told Giant magazine. 

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Aziz Ansari (center) with his parents Fatima Ansari and Shoukath Ansari attend the Master Of None Season 2 Premiere on May 11, 2017 in New York City

By his sophomore year, he was already extremely confident in his comedy. Once he graduated, he was performing at various smaller theaters, but quickly gained recognition by Rolling Stone in 2005 when they included him in the "Hot List" for the category "Hot Standup". By 2006, Aziz won the Jury Award for "Best Standup" during HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

Aziz Ansari's rise to fame

Aziz worked his way up in the comedy field and was the first cast hire as "Tom Haverford" for NBC's Parks and Recreation in 2008. In the series, he starred opposite Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, and Aubrey Plaza, to name a few. 

From 2015-to 2017, Aziz was the creator and star of his Netflix series, Master of None, where he was awarded two Emmys and a Golden Globe for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy. Meanwhile, Ansari finished his worldwide comedy tour, The Road to Nowhere. The tour took place all the way from Europe to North America to Asia!

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Couldn't make it to one of his shows? You can watch his stand-up special on Netflix!

The actor was most recently seen in a Parks and Rec special titled just that: A Parks and Recreation Special, which took its own take on the pandemic - yes, social distancing! 

We're curious what will be next for the "treat yo' self" comedian!