Ravi Vasant Patel (born December 18, 1978) is an American actor. He and his sister wrote and directed an autobiographical documentary, '' Meet the Patels''.

Early life and education

Patel was born in

Freeport, Illinois Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linc ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

American parents, the son of financial consultant father Vasant Patel and real estate agent mother Champa Patel. He grew up in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

and he graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

in 2001 with double majors in Economics and International Studies. His sister, Geeta Patel, is a writer and director. An investment banker after college, Patel co-founded poker magazine '' All In'' while living in LA.

Career

Television and film

An emcee job with improvised stand-up in between acts, led to auditions, Patel's first agent, and two dozen commercials in a year. He has been in over 70 national commercials, films and TV shows, most notably ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, ...

'', '' Scrubs'', ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Char ...

'', '' The Comedians'', and '' Hawaii Five-O''. In 2008-09, Patel appeared as George Patil in six episodes on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

's '' Easy Money''. In 2010, he starred in '' Past Life'' on Fox. Patel co-directed and starred in '' Meet the Patels'', a documentary that he made with his sister, Geeta Patel which won the audience award at the 2014

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, epis ...

. The film portrays Patel's autobiographical journey of trying to find an Indian wife. The duo have a deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures to write and direct a narrative remake of the film. Patel worked in multiple episodes of the

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series '' Mas ...

series ''

Master of None ''Master of None'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015, on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, with the first two seasons starring Ansari in the ...

''. From 2015 to 2016, Patel appeared on the

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera '' General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the ...

TV series '' Grandfathered. In 2020, Patel also created the CNN-produced docuseries '' Pursuit of Happiness'' which aired on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

. Patel has also worked in

Indian Cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

in the show Bhaag Beanie Bhaag.

Other

Patel is the co-founder of This Bar Saves Lives, which donates a meal packet for every granola bar they sell. He is an active investor in start-ups in health and wellness.

Personal life

Patel is married to actress

Mahaley Patel Mahaley Patel (née Hessam; born September 30, 1987) is an American actress best known for appearances in the films ''Easy A'', ''The DUFF'', and '' Our Show''. Personal life Patel was born in Atlanta, Georgia, as Mahaley Hessam. Her parents ...

with whom he has a daughter named Amelie.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *Ravi Pate
interview on the Tavis Smiley Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Ravi 1978 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male actors of Indian descent Male actors from Illinois People from Freeport, Illinois University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni