What Is Nasim Pedrad's Net Worth?
Nasim Pedrad is an Iranian-American actress, comedian, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $2 million. Nasim Pedrad is best known for her five seasons as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" (2009–2014), and she created, starred on, wrote, and executive produced the TBS series "Chad" (2021–present). Nasim also played Jane Parvana on "Mulaney" (2014–2015), Aly Nelson on "New Girl" (2015–2018), Gigi Caldwell on "Scream Queens" (2015), and Special Agent Alex Foster on "People of Earth" (2017), and she had a recurring role as Nurse Suri on "ER" (2007–2009). Pedrad has more than 30 acting credits to her name, including the films "No Strings Attached" (2011), "The Dictator" (2012), "Cooties" (2014), "Aladdin" (2019), and "Desperados" (2020), and she has lent her voice to the films "The Lorax" (2012) and "Despicable Me 2" (2013) and the television series "Allen Gregory" (2011), "The Awesomes" (2013), "TripTank" (2014–2015), "Big Mouth" (2017), "Pretzel And The Puppies" (2022), "The Boys Presents: Diabolical" (2022), and "Big Nate" (2022).
Early Life
Nasim Pedrad was born November 18, 1981, in Tehran, Iran. She is the daughter of Arasteh Amani and Parviz Pedrad. Nasim's younger sister, comedy writer Nina Pedrad, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" in 2021 and has written for TV shows such as "New Girl" and "30 Rock." When Nasim was very young, her father emigrated to the U.S., and the rest of the family joined him in 1984. The Pedrad family is Muslim, and both Nasim and Nina can speak Persian fluently. Pedrad was raised in Irvine, and she attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, graduating in 2003. While attending the school, she joined the UCLA Spring Sing Company; future "Saturday Night Live" cast member Mikey Day was also a member at the time, and Nasim recommended him for a writing job on "SNL" in 2013.
Career
After graduation, Pedrad took classes with The Groundlings and joined the troupe's Sunday Company. She performed the one-woman show "Me, Myself, and Iran" at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and ImprovOlympic in Los Angeles, and it was chosen for the HBO Comedy Festival in 2007. Tina Fey saw "Me, Myself, and Iran" and was impressed enough to recommend Nasim for "Saturday Night Live." Before joining the cast of "SNL," Pedrad appeared in the short films "The 73 Virgins" (2005) and "A Thousand Words" (2008), guest-starred on "Gilmore Girls" (2006) and "The Winner" (2007), and had a recurring role as Nurse Suri on the NBC series "ER" (2007–2009). In 2009, Nasim joined the cast of "SNL" as a featured player, and she was promoted to a repertory player two years. She left the show in 2014 to star on the Fox series "Mulaney," and during her time on "SNL," she was known for recurring characters such as Bedelia, Lil' Blaster, and Shallon and impersonations of celebrities such as Paula Abdul, Aziz Ansari, Kathy Griffin, Hoda Kotb, Alicia Keys, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, Sharon Osbourne, and Shakira.
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While starring on "SNL," Pedrad appeared in the films "No Strings Attached" (2011), "The Dictator" (2012), and "Cooties" (2014), voiced Isabella Once-ler in "The Lorax" (2012) and Jillian in "Despicable Me 2" (2013), and guest-starred on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (2009). From 2014 to 2015, she played Jane Parvana on "Mulaney" alongside John Mulaney, Martin Short, and Elliott Gould, and from 2015 to 2018, Nasim had a recurring role as Aly Nelson on Fox's "New Girl." In 2015, she starred as Gigi Caldwell on Ryan Murphy's Fox slasher series "Scream Queens," then she guest-starred on "The Mindy Project" (2016), "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2017), "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (2018), and "No Activity" (2018). In 2017, Pedrad played Special Agent Alex Foster on the TBS series "People of Earth," and in 2019, she appeared in the film "Corporate Animals" and played Dalia in Disney's live-action adaptation of "Aladdin," which grossed $1.054 billion at the box office. In 2020, she starred in the Netflix comedy "Desperados" alongside her former "New Girl" husband Lamorne Morris. In 2021, Nasim began playing the title role on the sitcom "Chad," which she created. "Chad" follows a "14-year-old Persian boy [who] desperately tries to fit in, cope with his mother's dating life, and figure out his cultural identity," and though TBS renewed it for a second season, they later decided not to air it because they were moving away from producing scripted content. In October 2022, it was announced that The Roku Channel picked up the series and would air season two.
Personal Life
Nasim is involved with the Vital Voices Global Partnership, and in 2022, she visited the U.N. with international human rights attorney Gissou Nia and fellow Iranian-American actresses Nazanin Nour and Mozhan Marno. They met with Ambassador Lachezara Stoeva, who serves as the president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and delivered a letter calling for the removal of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Pedrad spoke about the experience on Instagram, writing, "The relentless murdering machine that is this regime must be held accountable for its crimes against humanity. And they most certainly have no business taking a seat on the UN Women's Commission."
Awards and Nominations
In the early years of her career, "LA Weekly" honored Pedrad with a Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award for the spoof "After School Special." In 2014, Nasim and her "Despicable Me 2" co-stars earned a Behind the Voice Actors Award nomination for the BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film.
