Nik Dodani

Nik Dodani, born December 19, 1993, in Dallas, Texas, is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is recognized for playing Zahid in the Netflix comedy-drama series Atypical and Pat Patel in the CBS sitcom revival Murphy Brown. Of Indian Sindhi descent and openly gay, Dodani graduated from BASIS Scottsdale in 2011 and went on to study politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Dodani's early performance experience came through community theater in the Phoenix area, where he took on the role of Zero in a stage production of Holes, adapted from Louis Sachar's novel. His television career began with an appearance in season two of HBO's The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow. He has since accumulated credits across numerous series, including ABC's Big Sky, Netflix's Trinkets, TBS's Angie Tribeca, Comedy Central's Idiotsitter, Freeform's Kevin from Work, and NBC's The Player.

His film work includes Netflix's Alex Strangelove, the independent film Dark Was the Night opposite Marisa Tomei and Charlie Plummer, the Sony Pictures thriller Escape Room, Hannah Marks' Mark, Mary & Some Other People, and Lee Isaac Chung's Twisters, released in July 2024 as a follow-up to the 1996 film Twister. Dodani appeared in Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen as Jared, a character re-conceived as "Jared Kalwani" in recognition of his casting. In March 2022, it was announced he would lead the New Line Cinema comedy The Parenting alongside Brandon Flynn, Lisa Kudrow, and Brian Cox, with the film set for release on Max on March 13, 2025.

Dodani has contributed voice performances to several animated productions, including Nickelodeon's Big Nate, Disney's The Owl House and Hailey's On It!, Disney Junior's Mira, Royal Detective, and the 2022 Disney animated feature Strange World.

He made his Broadway debut playing Ogie in Waitress, performing in the production from October 19 to November 27, 2021. In 2023, Dodani served as a co-producer of the Broadway play Life of Pi, written by Lolita Chakrabarti as an adaptation of Yann Martel's novel. In that capacity, he developed The Power of Pi Project, described as a first-of-its-kind initiative by a Broadway production to engage the AAPI community in New York and beyond.

Dodani began performing stand-up comedy in 2015 and made his late-night stand-up debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 28, 2018. On the writing and producing side, it was announced in October 2018 that he would write the screenplay for a film adaptation of Rakesh Satyal's novel Blue Boy. In March 2022, he launched his own production company, Cosmic Pomegranate, with creative partner Joey Long.

Beyond entertainment, Dodani has been active in advocacy and community organizing. During the 2016 presidential election, he produced a political comedy tour called Laughter Trumps Hate for MoveOn. He previously worked as a communications consultant at RALLY, an issue advocacy firm in Hollywood, and as a graphic designer and student organizer on Elizabeth Warren's 2012 Senate campaign. He was involved in organizing South Asian community support for the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign and for Kamala Harris, and played a role in mobilizing entertainers for the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2019, Dodani co-founded The Salon with Bash Naran and Vinny Chhibber, a forum for South Asian creatives working in western arts, with the stated goal of supporting the next generation of South Asian talent.