Name: Nik Dodani
Profession: Actor, writer, producer (and an absolute queen if there ever was one)
Location: Originally Dallas, Texas. Currently New York City
Why you should care: After rising to overnight fame for his four-season run as Zahid Raja, whom Reddit describes as a “dweeby, foul-mouthed lothario”, in Netflix’s Atypical (2017 - 2021), Dodani is all set to make his leading man debut in Max’s upcoming gay horror comedy, The Parenting.
In 2018, he announced his first project as writer-director, an adaptation of Rakesh Satyal’s debut novel, Blue Boy (2009). In 2023, Dodani also came on board as a co-producer on the American tour of Life of Pi, which was adapted and written for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti. He has also directed the short documentary Houston Rising, currently playing on Prime Video.
He was dead serious about acting, even in school: “I was in eighth grade, doing a community theatre production of Holes, based on the book by Louis Sachar, in Arizona. I played Zero on stage and got sick halfway through. I decided to do it anyway, and during the performance I had to just straight up puke on stage. Thankfully, I don’t think anyone really noticed. I was in the background for that scene. It was the first time that I really internalised the idea that the show must go on.”
Stand-up comedy was his gateway to acting: “My parents signed me up for all the extracurricular activities—soccer, basketball, robotics, karate, etc. None of that was my speed. However, my older sister was taking acting classes, and I was at that age where I thought everything my sister does is the coolest thing in the world. So, I started taking acting classes, and it was the first thing that I think I felt genuine joy doing. Since then, I have taken a bunch of acting classes at random studios, but I’m not formally trained. I didn’t go to drama school or college for acting. I honestly feel like the place where I’ve learned the most was the set of Atypical. I was able to work with such incredible actors and grow a lot. I also think doing stand-up comedy, which I haven’t done in quite some time, really helped with my comedic timing. It’s where I cut my teeth.”
What drew him to Atypical was the non-toxic, straight-guys friendship: “The pilot script for that show was so fun, funny and heart-warming. I was just really drawn to how much love he had for the character of Sam, and to playing a character whose best friend is on the spectrum. And that doesn’t matter to him and he loves him because of it, not in spite of it. It’s just a beautiful male friendship, and it’s really nice to see healthy, non-toxic straight guys in a really loving friendship.”
He has very varied influences: “I grew up on Modern Family, Friends, The Office—all those classic comedies from comedic geniuses. So, I feel I am always doing my best to live up to the comedic talent that I grew up watching.
I also watched a lot of Bollywood, and Bollywood is so gay! The vibe and the aesthetic are so flowery and buoyant. I grew up in the era of Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and Lagaan. All those classics that I watched with my family, I think, had such a big influence on who I am as a storyteller.”
He’s watching what we’re watching on TV right now: “The two shows that I am consuming voraciously right now are Severance and The White Lotus. They’re truly two of the best shows on TV right now. I think Severance is just one of the most brilliant pieces of film that we’ve been lucky enough to witness. And The White Lotus is just so deeply uncomfortable in the way that I love to watch. I do miss Jennifer Coolidge, but I will say I think Parker [Posey] is stepping into that role really well.”
The Parenting looks like a funnier, less sombre, gay spin on the Jordan Peele classic Get Out (2017): “It is this fun horror comedy about this young couple, Rohan and Josh. Rohan wants to propose to Josh. So, they invite both sets of parents to this beautiful home in the woods for a weekend getaway, where they can meet and fall in love with each other and watch me [Rohan] pop the question. Unfortunately, the parents don’t really get along, and the house is haunted by an ancient demon that possesses my father, played by Brian Cox. It's a really fun twist on the meet-the-parents comedy with an insane ensemble cast. It’s truly just a fun watch that I think a lot of folks can relate to because meeting your partner’s parents is one of the most terrifying things in the world.”
He’s stuck in a 29-room haunted house with Brian Cox and Lisa Kudrow: “Working with Brian and Lisa, and Edie Falco, Dean Norris, Parker Posey, Brandon Flynn and Vivian Bang, it really felt like a comedy summer camp. We were all staying in this haunted hotel in this small town in Massachusetts. During the day, we would be shooting these ridiculous scenes. At night, we would be cooking dinner or watching trash reality TV and just hanging out. It was a really surreal and incredible experience to bring my own nonsense to that group. I feel like I learned so much just watching them work and seeing the different comedic styles that they bring. Just imagine the comedic styles of Succession, Breaking Bad, Friends, The White Lotus, and The Sopranos coming together to make this weird gay demon baby of a movie. It was really something special to witness.”
Humour is his favourite genre: “What drew me to Blue Boy was its ability to blend comedy with heart and drama. It’s based on a book by Rakesh Satyal and is about a 12-year-old Indian American boy who thinks he’s the reincarnation of Krishna. But actually he’s just gay, and figuring out life and navigating his parents and his school and temple. The projects that I’m really drawn to as a writer and director are projects that can take the comedy genre and bring some element of other genres into it—whether it’s drama or sci-fi or fantasy. Humour, at the end of the day, is just my favourite thing to play with. I know that tonally it’s very different from a lot of the things I’ve done, but I think the bottom line is that it’s a combo of comedy and heart.”
His boyfriend introduced him to his latest earworm: “The one artist that I’ve been listening to on repeat for around two months is Dhruv. My boyfriend, Anuj, introduced me to him. I would highly recommend him to anyone. I’m a huge fan of the track ‘Airplane Thoughts’. I can’t wait to see him live one day.”
He recently got ‘enraged’ with his ‘fiancé’: “Right now the rage is low, thankfully. We’re doing great. He’s actually literally sitting right there with his head in his hands. We’re doing great. We’re over four years in and I love him so much.”
What kind of stories does he want to tell in the future: “Right now, Blue Boy is the one that I am so focused on because it’s this really beautiful coming-of-age story that is about being an outcast, about belonging, about your sense of self. And it’s something that I think a lot of folks can relate to regardless of background. I think queer desis will relate to it in a really special way. I hope to be able to turn that into a feature film. We’re in development right now and I think that’s kind of the big passion project of the moment for me. I also want to shout out to the great projects coming out right now, with Deli Boys on television, A Nice Indian Boy coming out in theatres, and Picture This, which just dropped on Amazon. I just feel really excited because there are so many great [South Asian] actors, filmmakers, writers and directors having a moment.”
Nik Dodani appears in The Parenting releasing this week on Max
