Utkarsh Ambudkar ( ; born December 8, 1983), also known by his stage name UTK the INC, is an American actor, rapper, and singer. He is known for his film roles including '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), ''

Game Over, Man! ''Game Over, Man!'' is a 2018 American action comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck, written by Anders Holm, and starring Holm, Adam DeVine, and Blake Anderson, all of whom previously collaborated on the sitcom ''Workaholics''. It follows three ...

'' (2018), ''

Blindspotting ''Blindspotting'' is a 2018 American comedy-drama film written by, produced by and starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. Carlos López Estrada directs while Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ethan Embry, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Utkarsh A ...

'' (2018), '' Brittany Runs a Marathon'' (2019), '' The Broken Hearts Gallery'' (2020), ''

Free Guy ''Free Guy'' is a 2021 American science fiction action comedy film directed and produced by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, and a story by Lieberman. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Ut ...

'' (2021), and '' Tick, Tick... Boom!'' (2021). His television roles include ''

The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its run of six seasons on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Un ...

'', ''

White Famous ''White Famous'' is an American sitcom starring Jay Pharoah, based on the life of Jamie Foxx, which aired on Showtime from October 15, 2017 until December 10, 2017. It is co-created by Tom Kapinos, Chris Spencer and Buddy Lewis, directed by T ...

'', ''

Never Have I Ever "Never have I ever", also known as "I've never..." or "ten fingers", is a drinking game in which players take turns asking other players about things they have not done. Other players who have done this thing respond by taking a drink. A vers ...

'', and '' Ghosts''. He recently appeared in the Hulu limited series ''

The Dropout ''The Dropout'' is an American biographical crime drama miniseries created by Elizabeth Meriwether, based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Rebecca Jarvis and produced by ABC News. The series documents the disgraced biotechnology comp ...

'' (2022). He made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut in

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and '' In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animat ...

's improvisational hip-hop show '' Freestyle Love Supreme'' in 2019.

Early life

Ambudkar was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He grew up in the suburbs where his parents, who had emigrated from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the 1980s, were research scientists at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

. He starred in comedy roles at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland, and he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

in 2004. Through his mother, Ambudkar is a descendant of the lawyer and jurist Sir Vembakkam Bhashyam Aiyangar.

Career

Ambudkar is a former VJ for MTV Desi. He appeared in the comedy film '' Pitch Perfect'' as the character Donald, and in the television shows ''

'' and ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...

''. He was set to star in the Fox series ''Eat, Pray, Thug'' but the show was not picked up. Ambudkar originated the role of Aaron Burr in the developmental readings of '' Hamilton''. He was seen in the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' campaign ''Force Grey: Giant Hunters'' and ''Force Grey: Lost City of Omu'', hosted by Matthew Mercer. In that, he played the character "Hitch", a rogue with a nefarious past. He formerly played Raj on the sitcom ''

Brockmire ''Brockmire'' is an American sitcom that premiered on April 5, 2017 on IFC. The show stars Hank Azaria, Amanda Peet, and Tyrel Jackson Williams, with J. K. Simmons guest starring in the third season. Azaria plays a baseball play-by-play announc ...

''. He was a member of the musical group "The Beatards." Utkarsh has appeared in several Youtube sketch comedy skits including the comedy groups ''

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

'' and ''

Key & Peele ''Key & Peele'' (abbreviated to ''K&P'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central. Both Key and Peele previously worked on '' Mad TV.'' Each episode of the show consists ...

''. Since 2005, Ambudkar has been a part of hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme under the name UTK the INC. As part of the group, he participated in the limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made his Broadway debut in the group's self-titled show on October 2, 2019. He played Jern in the 2019 film '' Brittany Runs a Marathon.'' He played Skatch, a con artist, in a deleted scene of the 2020

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

live-action remake of '' Mulan''. That same year he appeared in Disney's '' Godmothered'', and then in the 2021 action comedy ''

''. In 2020, Ambudkar debuted as the mongoose Chikku in the

Disney Junior Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven y ...

animated series '' Mira, Royal Detective''. He is currently starring in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

supernatural sitcom '' Ghosts'' (2021).

Personal life

Ambudkar married Naomi Campbell in 2019 and has two children.

Discography

*''The Gold Tusk EP'' (2006) *''Members Only EP'' (2012) *''Vanity'' (2019) *''Petty'' (2019)

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ambudkar, Utkarsh Living people 1983 births 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Indian descent Marathi people American people of Indian Tamil descent American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male voice actors Male actors from Baltimore Tisch School of the Arts alumni American rappers