Future Asian & Pacific History Month: Mindy Kaling's Unique Voice

Fuse is celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month by looking at a variety of rising forces who are creating Future Asian and Pacific History before our eyes. Today we celebrate Mindy Kaling, who didn't even bother breaking the mold--she just ignored it. 

“I often forget that being an Indian-American woman who’s not sort of pencil thin is very new to broadcast television,” she told NPR in 2014. But that doesn't take the pressure off: That same year, when she was asked on a SXSW panel why her show only had one female doctor and one doctor of color on The Mindy Project¸ she responded with, “I’m a fucking Indian woman who has her own fucking network television show, OK?” 

Despite her reaction, Kaling—born Vera Mindy Chokalingham to Hindu parents from India—understands the impact she’s having on TV viewers, and the burden that places on her.