Utkarsh Ambudkarhas been acting professionally since 2004, but most of his best movies and TV shows are from the 2020s, highlighting how difficult it can be to break into the film industry in memorable projects. Ambudkar has experience on the stage as well as the screen having workshopped hip-hop and improv comedy shows before making a name for himself on screen.
Ambudkar broke out by combining his talents for music and acting into multiple roles that helped him to book more roles. Because of his determination to play roles that were very different from one another, Ambudkar has become an adept character actor, taking on roles of antagonists as often as he does heroes, little brothers as well as authority figures, and even romantic interests. His ability to slip into these very different characters - even when more than one of them might be an aspiring musician - has proven him an adept acting chameleon.
The Broken Hearts Galleryis a rom-com starring Geraldine Viswanathan and Dacre Montgomery as two people following their respective dreams in Brooklyn. Viswanathan is a woman who finds her life falling apart when her boyfriend breaks up with her and the boss fires her from her art gallery job at the same time. Montgomery is a man restoring an old hotel who inspires her to find a way to channel her pain. They collaborate on a gallery for people who have had their hearts broken, a place where people can leave mementos of their past relationships and explain their heartbreak.
Ambudkar is the catalyst for everything in the movie as he is the boyfriend who breaks up with Viswanathan.While he is not in the movie a lot, he comes across as conceited and only worried about his own wants. After all, he leaves her for an ex and then comes right back to her when he is dumped himself - and does not understand the idea behind The Broken Hearts Gallery at all.
Ambudkar plays this role a little more buttoned-up than his usual parts, and it is a nice change for him since so many of his movies and TV shows up to this point put him in more comic relief roles.
Pitch Perfectcould be credited as Utkarsh Ambudkar’s breakout role.Though he had plenty of experience as both an actor and a musician before the movie premiered, he was not as recognizable to general audiences. The movie helped change that since he was one of the featured performers in the two acapella groups that are highlighted in the movies.
As a whole,thePitch Perfecttrilogytracks the rise and fall of the collegiate acappella group the Barden Bellas. The young women grow up and find sisterhood with one another. Their primary rivals in the first movie are the Treblemakers, an all-male group at the same university.
Though Utkarsh Ambudkar does not appear in all threePitch Perfectmovies, he does make an impression as a member of the Treblemakers in the first movie. Donald provides some of the more unique sounds for the group, providing more of the vocal effects for their songs. He also gets some great one-liners in the movie.Even though it isn’t a huge role for Ambudkar, it is one that helps audiences see what he can do.
The Mindy Projectcombined Mindy Kaling’s knack for comedy with her love of romance storylines. The series sees Kaling as Mindy Lahiri working in an obstetrics and gynecology office while she dates and enjoys the antics of her coworkers. While the series begins as more of a straight-up sitcom, it becomes much more of a rom-com in the later seasons of the show.
Ambudkar originally appears in the series in the first season as a guest star.Playing Mindy’s little brother, he is a university student pursuing a career as a rapper, much to Mindy’s chagrin.He’s outgoing and personable, but a little irresponsible as he struggles with his bills while trying to make his dreams come true.
This particular role likely hits close to home for Ambudkar who is a skilled musician and hip-hop artist. He actually originated the role of Aaron Burr duringHamilton’sworkshop process and worked with Lin Manuel Miranda on the improv hip-hop showFreestyle Love Supreme.Playing Rishi allows him to combine his love of music with his love of comedy to great results, even if he only appears in 10 episodes of the show as a whole.
Never Have I Everfocuses on a teen girl grieving her father in the first season while still trying to enjoy her high school experience. As a usually high-achieving student and the daughter of Indian immigrants, she feels the pressure to be perfect and starts to rebel in small ways.Despite the show being aimed at teens, it also does a great job at providing engaging storylines for its adult characters.That is where Utkarsh Ambudkar comes in.
He plays one of the most-liked teachers at the local high school. He is able to offer advice to the students (that they may or may not take) and come at them from a different perspective from their parents while still making it clear that he cares about their well-being. He also ends up being a love interest for the main character’s cousin later in the show, allowing his role to expand beyond just the role of an authority figure at school.
Ambudkar had mostly played jokesters and kid-like characters himself up to this point, soNever Have I Evermarked a change in the kinds of roles that started to come his way.
Brockmireis one of the fewtelevision series to center on baseball. While there are a lot of shows out there that make football or basketball central to the lives of their characters, baseball is not nearly as common. Here, the show is not about the actual game-play either. Instead, it’s about the life of a sports announcer.
Hank Azaria plays the title character, based on one he created for a web series. Ten years before the events of the series, he finds himself disgraced after he has a very public meltdown while calling a baseball game after finding out about his wife’s infidelity. The series sees him trying to get his life and career back on track by originally calling the games in a small town where he lives.
Ambudkar appears in the second season of the show, which sees Brockmire having moved up to AAA baseball and calling the games of a New Orleans team.Ambudkar’s Raj is his broadcasting partner, and it’s fine to see them riff on one another, especially since he is also competition for calling for a Major League Baseball team.
Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal wrote, starred in, and produced the originalBlindspottingmovie, then came on as producers and actors for the television series that is set six months after the events of the film.
While the film follows Diggs and Casal as a pair of long-time friends who deal with the fallout of the gentrification of their neighborhood in Oakland, wrongful shootings by local police, and their own arrest records, the series looks even further into the aftermath. It centers on Jasmine Cephas Jones as the girlfriend of Casal’s character after she moves in with his mother while he serves jail time.
Ambudkar’s part in the film and the series is not huge. He only appeared in two episodes of the series before it was canceled.Both projects, however, are pivotal for him because they do exactly what he believes comedy should do - make the audience laugh, but also leave them thinking about “pertinent” and timely information(viaCreators Faire).
My Dead Friend Zoeis the kind of movie that has a comedic tone but deals with a serious subject. It is both uplifting as well as disheartening given the events of the story. In it, a woman returns home from her time in the army and puts off her therapy for her post traumatic stress disorder by using her time attempting to help her mother move her Vietnam veteran grandfather out of his home and into an assisted living facility. She also is haunted by the ghost of her best friend in the army.
The movie takes grief and loss and infuses them with humor, helping to keep the movie from drowning the audience in tears while still giving a heartfelt story. Ambudkar has a small role in contributing to that humor and heart.He appears in the movie as a man who runs a retirement center and someone the main character agrees to go on a date with while she is still avoiding dealing with her own traumas. He is charming in the role, but the movie as a whole belongs to Sonequa Martin-Green in the lead.
…Mouser is a more layered character than he initially appears.
Free Guyis a movie that gamers will find plenty of inside jokes within. It is also a movie that will give anyone interested in the fast-paced changes happening to technology something to think about.
Free Guysurrounds a massive online multiplayer game and one player’s desire to prove that the source code used to create the game was actually stolen from her. The code used in artificial intelligence within the game causes one of the nonplayable characters to become self-aware and help her on her quest. The movie splits its time between the world inside the game and the world outside the game where the villain and his employees are trying to stop her.
Ambudkar plays one of those employees. Though he spends a good portion of the movie actively working against the story’s heroes, Mouser is a more layered character than he initially appears. He turns against his boss and helps save the day, which is admirable.Though Ambudkar was not part of the huge action sequences, he did spend most of his scenes with Joe Keery and Taika Waititi, holding his own opposite Waititi’s larger-than-life villain.
It’s an interesting role for Ambudkar who built his career on the mantra of “no computer nerds, no sidekicks,” to avoid being typecast as other South Asian actors have been.As he explained toThe Independent, that’s only, “unless it’s with Ryan Reynolds and then it’s like why not?” His mantra has made him a great character actor at this point in his career.
World’s Bestis a labor of love for Ambudkar. Not only did he act (and rap) for the movie, but he also co-wrote the script and produced it.Work on the movie began in 2020 with Disney before it finally made its way to Disney+ in 2023.
The movie follows a 12-year-old boy who is gifted at math and takes a high school class, even gearing up for math competitions. He is also, however, grieving the loss of his father, from whom he has a journal, and who dreamed of being a rap artist before losing his life to cancer. The boy decides to explore the world of hip-hop alongside math with a manifestation of his father guiding him along the way.
Ambudkar appears as the imaginary version(or possibly the spirit, that is up for interpretation) of his father.World’s Bestallows the actor to use his own hip-hop skills for a much younger audience than he usually does, which likely appealed to him because he has young kids of his own. Unlike some of the more screwball comedies or more adult storylines he has acted in, this is one project he can share with his kids.
It is also one of his best movies. There’s a certain charm here and a chemistry he has with the younger performers that makes it clear that Ambudkar is in his element.
Ambudkar previously worked with Disney in the live-actionMulanbut his character’s scenes ended up cut from the movie.
Ambudkar has tried his hand at making it to television in over a dozen failed TV pilots (viaThe Independent).Ghosts, however, has him in a lead role and has beenrenewed through season six already.It’s his most successful television project to date and his best.
Ghostsis an adaptation of a British series of the same name in which a husband and wife inherit a large property, only to find that it is already occupied by ghosts of the people who have died there at different times. They become able to communicate with the ghosts when the wife (Rose McIver in the American version) has a near-death experience and wakes up being able to see and speak with them.
Ambudkar is the husband. That means much of his time in the series is spent knowing that there are other people in the room and being unable to interact with them. The show has found clever ways to get around this, from dream visits from one ghost to possession by another, butthe show works because Ambudkar is so good at being there for the ghosts and helping them without actually interacting with them.
Ambudkar gets to blend his comedic and dramatic skills here because, though the show is undoubtedly a comedy, it also has plenty of heartfelt and sincere moments that would be more at home in a drama. Though he might not get to use his musical skills in the show, playing a chef here instead,Utkarsh Ambudkaris a joy to watch inGhosts.
