# Ajay Naidu

Ajay Kalahastri Naidu (born February 12, 1972) is an American actor and director best known for playing Samir in Office Space. He also made guest appearances in such critically acclaimed television shows as The West Wing and The Sopranos. Naidu was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film SubUrbia.

## Early life and education

Naidu was born in Evanston, Illinois. His parents came from India to the United States in 1964. He attended Evanston Township High School. He trained with the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

## Career

Naidu's first professional acting job, which he won from an open call, was a leading role opposite Michael Keaton in the 1986 film Touch and Go. This was followed by an ABC Afterschool Special episode, "No Greater Gift" (1985), where he played Nick Santana, a 12-year-old boy with a terminal illness. Naidu then appeared in the MacGyver TV series' first-season episode, "To Be a Man" in 1986.
Other early film credits include Where the River Runs Black (1986) opposite Charles Durning and Vice Versa (1988). Between 1988 and 1995 he worked extensively in classical theatre.
Naidu returned to film acting in 1996 with Richard Linklater's SubUrbia, for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male and competed against the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Roy Scheider and Jason Lee.
On screen, Naidu starred in the cult film Office Space, as well as appearing in films such as K-Pax, Subway Stories, π, Requiem for a Dream, Bad Santa, The War Within, The Guru, Waterborne, and Loins of Punjab Presents. He co-starred as a series regular in the sitcom LateLine and had guest starring roles on the television dramas The Sopranos, The West Wing and Bored to Death.
Naidu has been working extensively with musicians from the Asian underground music movement for many years as a breakdancer and an M.C. His vocals have appeared on many records, most notably Talvin Singh's Mercury Award winner OK and Vijay Iyer's In What Language?.
In 2006, Naidu directed his first feature film Ashes which had its release in 2010 and for which he won Best Actor accolades from the MIACC Film Festival in New York and the London Asian Film Festival.
Naidu's most recent theatre credits include The Kid Stays in the Picture at the Royal Court Theatre, The Master and Margarita with Complicite, a world tour of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with Complicite, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui alongside Al Pacino, directed by Simon McBurney, The Little Flower of East Orange alongside Ellyn Burstyn at New York's Public Theater directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Waiting for Godot at TFANA directed by Arin Arbus. In 2001 Naidu's solo theatre piece Darwaza was a sold-out hit at New York's Labyrinth Theatre, where he is also a member of the company.
In 2019, Naidu was awarded the Excellence in Performing Arts Award by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

## Personal life

Naidu is married to actress Heather Burns. The couple has a son, Jaan Burns.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Touch and Go | Louis DeLeon | |
| 1986 | Where the River Runs Black | Segundo | |
| 1988 | Vice Versa | Dale | |
| 1996 | SubUrbia | Nazeer Choudhury | |
| 1997 | Once We Were Strangers | Apu | |
| 1998 | Shopkeeping | Asif | |
| 1998 | Montana | Ives | |
| 1998 | My Giant | Hot Dog Vendor | |
| 1998 | Scotch and Milk | Armand | |
| 1998 | Pi | Farrouhk | |
| 1999 | Office Space | Samir Nagheenanajar | |
| 1999 | Chutney Popcorn | Raju | |
| 2000 | You Are Here* | Sanjay | |
| 2000 | Dinner Rush | Ademir the Matre'd | |
| 2000 | Requiem for a Dream | Mailman | |
| 2000 | More Dogs Than Bones | Andy | |
| 2001 | American Chai | Hari | |
| 2001 | Hannibal | Perfume Expert | |
| 2001 | K-PAX | Dr. Chakraborty | |
| 2002 | Bomb the System | Moses Mundhra | |
| 2002 | The Guru | Sanjay | |
| 2003 | Justice | Mohammed | |
| 2003 | Scary Movie 3 | Sayaman | |
| 2003 | Bad Santa | Hindustani Troublemaker | |
| 2005 | Perception | Kamal | |
| 2005 | 212 | Vincent | |
| 2005 | Waterborne | Vikram Bhatti | |
| 2005 | Alchemy | Best Man | |
| 2005 | Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy? | Prince Omar | |
| 2005 | The Honeymooners | Vivek | |
| 2005 | The War Within | Naved | |
| 2005 | Confess | Account Executive | |
| 2006 | Hiding Divya | Divya's husband | |
| 2007 | Loins of Punjab Presents | Turbanotorious B.D.G. | |
| 2008 | Righteous Kill | Dr. Chadrabar | |
| 2008 | The Wrestler | Medic | |
| 2008 | The Accidental Husband | Deep | |
| 2009 | Hotel for Dogs | ACO Jake | |
| 2009 | Today's Special | Munnamia | |
| 2009 | Falling Up | Paco | |
| 2009 | The Hungry Ghosts | Laurence | |
| 2010 | Ashes | Ashes | Director, writer |
| 2012 | 3 Days of Normal | Vik Donowitz | |
| 2013 | Gods Behaving Badly | The Producer | |
| 2017 | Lost Cat Corona | Amir | |
| 2017 | Crazy Famous | Dr. Manning | |
| 2018 | The Kindergarten Teacher | Nikhil Roy | |
| 2020 | The Dark End of the Street | Graham | |
| 2020 | Antarctica | Principal Pepp | |
| 2020 | Thorp | Pat | |
| 2020 | The Sleepless | Vivek | |
| 2021 | Americanish | Jawad | |
| 2021 | The Magnificent Meyersons | Mohammed | |
| 2022 | The Good Nurse | Dr. Robert Hind | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985 | Lady Blue | Paquito | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1985 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Nick Santana | Episode: "No Greater Gift" |
| 1986 | MacGyver | Ahmed | Episode: "To Be a Man" |
| 1996 | New York Undercover | Manuel | Episode: "Brown Like Me" |
| 1997 | SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground | Prashant | TV movie |
| 1998–99 | LateLine | Raji Bakshi | Main role |
| 2000 | The Sopranos | Omar | Episode: "Big Girls Don't Cry" |
| 2001 | The Gene Pool | Paul Patel | TV movie |
| 2001 | The West Wing | Rakim Ali | Episode: "Isaac and Ishmael" |
| 2004 | Fillmore! | Sanjay | Episode: "Field Trip of the Just" |
| 2004 | Monk | Masul the Cabbie | Episode: "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan" |
| 2004 | The Jury | George Edmonds | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2005 | King of the Hill | Delivery Guy / Malik | Episode: "Mutual of Omabwah" |
| 2008 | Strokes | Sanjay Lall | TV movie |
| 2009 | Cop House | Skip Malhotra | TV movie |
| 2009 | 30 Rock | Asif | Episode: "Larry King" |
| 2009 | Kings | Dr. Nayar | 2 Episodes |
| 2009 | Mercy | Matt | Episode: "Pulling the Goalie" |
| 2010 | Futurestates | Rakesh | Episode: "Pia" |
| 2010 | Bored to Death | Vikram | 2 Episodes |
| 2014 | Deadbeat | Attendant / The Taxi Man | 2 Episodes |
| 2014 | Manhattan Love Story | Brian | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2016 | World's End | Karl | TV movie |
| 2016 | Odd Mom Out | Doctor | Episode: "40 Is the New 70" |
| 2017 | Friends from College | Howie Wexler | Episode: "Second Wedding" |
| 2018 | God Friended Me | Eric | Episode: "The Good Samaritan" |
| 2019 | Billions | Kulbinder Darcha | Episode: "Arousal Template" |
| 2019 | The Brooding Barista Jackass | Customer | Episode: "Hot or Not" |
| 2020 | The Blacklist | Mahmoud Iqbal | Episode: "Cornelius Ruck (No. 155)" |
| 2016–20 | Blindspot | Shohid Akhtar | 5 Episodes |
| 2020 | Social Distance | Dan | Episode: "Delete All Future Events" |
| 2021 | Dr. Death | Dr. Sasani | 3 Episodes |
| 2022 | WeCrashed | Randall | Episode: "This Is Where It Begins" |
| 2022 | Uncoupled | Raffi | Episode: "Episode #1.5" |
| 2024 | Elsbeth | Martin Wali | Recurring character |