Hasan Minhaj

Hasan Minhaj Biography

Hasan Minhaj ( born September 23, 1985) is an American comedian, writer, political commentator, actor, and television host.

After working as a stand-up comic and appearing in minor television roles, he came to prominence for his work when on The Daily Show as its senior correspondent from 2014 to 2018. Minhaj was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner. His first stand-up comedy special, Homecoming King, debuted on Netflix on May 23, 2017, and received positive reviews from critics and a Peabody Award in 2018. Minhaj left The Daily Show in August 2018 to host a weekly comedy show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, which debuted on Netflix on October 28, 2018.

Early life and family

Minhaj comes from an Indian Muslim family originally from Aligarh and Seohara in Uttar Pradesh, India. His parents, Najme and Seema (ne Usmani), immigrated to Davis, California, where Minhaj was born and raised. After his birth, he and his father, a chemist, remained in the United States. His mother returned to India for eight years to complete medical school, visiting the U.S. after three years to give birth to his sister in 1989. Hasan did not know he had a sister until he was eight when his mother and sister returned permanently from India. In addition to English, he is fluent in Hindi and Urdu. His sister, Ayesha Minhaj, is an attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Career

Minhaj attended the University of California, Davis, where he majored in political science. There, he became interested in comedy after seeing Chris Rock's Never Scared, the first stand-up special he watched. He began traveling to San Francisco to perform. In 2008, he won Wild 94.9's "Best Comic Standing" competition, which resulted in his working as an opening act for Katt Williams, Pablo Francisco, and Gabriel Iglesias. He also worked part-time for the website Ning, an experience he used to write comedy. Minhaj lists Kevin Shea, W. Kamau Bell, and Arj Barker as inspirations.

In 2009, Minhaj moved to Los Angeles to perform on NBC's Stand-up for Diversity, on which he was a finalist. In 2011, he was recurring on the TV sitcom State of Georgia and starred in various roles on the MTV hidden camera show Disaster Date. Through posting on YouTube, he was cast on Failosophy on MTV. In 2013, Minhaj appeared in guest roles on Arrested Development and Getting On. He hosted Stand Up Planet in 2013 and a web series, The Truth with Hasan Minhaj, in 2014. In 2014, he voiced Rabi Ray Rana in the video game Far Cry 4.

On November 19, 2014, Minhaj joined The Daily Show as a correspondent, the last one hired by then-host Jon Stewart. Minhaj was asked to come in for an audition with new material after he sent in a tape of him performing an idea for a Daily Show segment, but he initially panicked as he had no other material prepared. The Friday before Minhaj's audition, Ben Affleck and Bill Maher got into a heated exchange about Islam on Maher's show, and Minhaj used this for a new sketch he called "Batman vs. Bill Maher".

On June 18, 2016, Minhaj performed a set as the host of the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. The set gained attention for his condemnation of the United States Congress' inaction in passing gun control legislation.</ref>}}

On April 29, 2017, Minhaj was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he took on the traditional role of roasting Washington, D.C. society, national politics, current events, the current president, the Washington press corps, and the American media. He criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, who was boycotting the dinner, calling him the "liar in chief," and reminded the press to do their job:

Minhaj's one-man show, Homecoming King, debuted Off-Broadway in October 2015. The show featured a central theme of the immigrant experience in the United States today, illustrated with stories from Minhaj's life as a second-generation Indian-American Muslim. He later turned the show into his first stand-up special, Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, which premiered on Netflix on May 23, 2017. The special was filmed at the Mondavi Center at Minhaj's alma mater, UC Davis, in January 2017, and won a television Peabody Award.

In March 2018, Netflix announced that Minhaj would host his own weekly show on the platform. The new show, entitled Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, premiered on October 28, 2018. The show received an initial order of 32 episodes. Patriot Act explores the modern cultural and political landscape.

Personal life

In January 2015, Minhaj married Beena Patel, whom he had met in college at UC Davis. Beena received a Doctor of Public Health in 2013 and since has worked with homeless patients and holds the position of Management Consultant for MedAmerica. Patel is from a Hindu family, which Minhaj discussed in his comedy special, Homecoming King. They live in New York City. On April 22, 2018, the couple welcomed their first child, a baby girl.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	True Stories from My Crappy Childhood	Himself	Short film
2011	Moving Takahashi	Grant	Short film
2012	Indian Spider-Man	Hasan Peter Patel	Short film
2013	Good Son	Doctor's son	Short film
2017	Rough Night	Joe
2018	Most Likely to Murder	Amir
2018	The Spy Who Dumped Me	Duffer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	The Wanda Sykes Show	WMZ Staffer	Episode: "1.8"
2010	The Legend of Neil	Lynel 2 / Lynel	2 episodes
2011	Disaster Date	Himself	18 episodes
2011	State of Georgia	Seth	5 episodes
2013	Arrested Development	Indian Medical Student	Episode: "A New Start"
	Getting On	Raul	Episode: "Nightshift"
	Failosophy	Himself (host)	12 episodes
2014-2018	The Daily Show	Himself (correspondent)	103 episodes
2017	White House Correspondents' Dinner	Himself (host)	TV special
2017	Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King	Himself	Stand-up special
2018	Champions	Ro	Episode: "My Fair Uncle"
2018-present	Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj	Himself (host)	Also co-creator, writer, executive producer
2018	The Final Table	Guest judge	Episode: "India"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice
2014	Far Cry 4	Rabi Ray Rana (voice)

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work
2016	Chhaya CDC Award	Architects Of Change Honoree
2017	Teen Choice Award	Choice Comedian
2018	Shorty Award	Best in Comedy	The Daily Show
2018	Peabody Award		Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King