Aasif Hakim Mandviwala (known professionally as Aasif Mandvi; born March 5, 1966) is a British-American actor, comedian and author. He made his television debut as a doorman at theΒ Miami Biltmore HotelΒ in the episode "Line of Fire" of the seriesΒ Miami Vice. In 2006, Mandvi auditioned forΒ The Daily Show and was hired immediately and appeared on the show the same day. He began appearing as an occasional contributing correspondent on The Daily Show on August 9, 2006. On March 12, 2007, he was promoted to a regular correspondent. In October 2013, during a segment onΒ The Daily Show, his interview with Don Yelton led to Yelton's resignation from the North Carolina Republican Party office.
In 2013, he was cast in a recurring role on theΒ FOXΒ romantic comedy,Β Us & Them. Beginning in June 2015, he portrayed Rafiq Massoud in the HBO comedy seriesΒ The Brink. He also served as a writer and co-producer on the series. Also in 2015, he was the lead actor, co-writer and producer of the web seriesΒ Halal in the Family, which premiered onΒ Funny or Die. In 2016, he joined the climate change documentary showΒ Years of Living DangerouslyΒ as one of its celebrity correspondents.
Beginning in 2017, he had a short recurring role on Netflix's Β A Series of Unfortunate EventsΒ as Montgomery "Uncle Monty" Montgomery, a herpetologist and distant relative of the Baudelaire children. In 2019, he starredΒ in CBS' supernatural drama seriesΒ EvilΒ as Ben Shakir, a carpenter who works as a technical expert, equipment handler and debunker of supernatural phenomena. His other recurring roles include Oz, CSI, Tanner on Tanner, The Bedford Diaries, Jericho, Blue Bloods, Younger, and This Way Up. He hosted the game show Would I Lie to You? (2022).
He played minor roles in the filmsΒ The SiegeΒ andΒ Die Hard with a Vengeance. He played the doctor who diagnosed Paul Vitti's (Robert De Niro) panic attacks in Analyze This,Β and had a role as Mr. Aziz of "Joe's Pizza" inΒ Spider-Man 2. He played theΒ tone deafΒ doorman Khan inΒ Music and Lyrics, a dentist alongsideΒ Ricky Gervais in Ghost Town, Bob Spaulding inΒ The Proposal, and appeared inΒ It's Kind of a Funny Story.
InΒ M. Night Shyamalan'sΒ The Last AirbenderΒ (released in 2010) he played a major role asΒ Commander Zhao. He played the role of Mr. Chetty in The InternshipΒ andΒ Ash VasudevanΒ inΒ Million Dollar Arm. He has appeared in other films including Random Hearts, Margin Call, Dark Horse, The Dictator, Ruby Sparks, Premium Rush, Movie 43, Mother's Day, Drunk Parents, and more.
