Early on, this particular actress adored sketch comedy-type shows, exactly like 'Saturday Night Live'. Her career went in a different direction at the start, working as an intern during her teens on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien.'
Slowly but surely, the roles started coming in, with her biggest on 'The Office'. In the same year, she appeared in the hit film '40-Year-Old Virgin'. It was only up from there, as the star never looked back, getting her own show, lasting five seasons, 'The Mindy Project.'
She's a huge star these days on and off the camera, however at one point, getting cast in a role was a task in itself.
She has been candid about past auditions, especially those that didn't go so well. She auditioned for a certain sketch comedy show and according to the star, she was turned away due to her looks.
Thankfully, this didn't deter her pursuit to finding success, and years later, she was offered a spot on another sketch comedy show, the best of the best, 'SNL'. Believe it or not, she turned down the dream role.
We'll discuss why she said no to 'SNL', and why she was turned away early on in her career.
"I Wasn't Considered Attractive Enough To Play Myself"
With a net worth of over $35 million, we assume Mindy Kaling isn't sweating her past too badly. However, at one point in time, she was turned away strictly because of her physical appearance.
She discussed the situation alongside The Guardian. "We were not considered attractive or funny enough to play ourselves. That network is no longer on the air, and 'The Office' went on to be one of NBC's biggest hit shows in years. I feel like karmically, I was vindicated, but at the time it felt terrible."
Just imagine being turned down for a role that entails you to play yourself, because you don't look the part...
It was a tough pill for Mindy to swallow, though thankfully she kept her head up, and along came 'The Office', which ended up turning her career around for the better.
That wouldn't be the last of Mindy and trying out for sketch comedy shows. She got a huge offer, one she considered the most important of her career at that point. It was a dream gig on 'SNL' to appear behind the camera and perhaps in the future, in front of it.
Although the offer was everything she ever wanted, the timing just did not align at the time.
Losing Out On 'SNL'
Although she got brushed aside from her previous sketch comedy audition, years later, it was a different story as the 'SNL' team wanted Kaling to join the team. Although it was her dream job, the timing was a little messy.
"I sat down with [showrunner] Greg [Daniels] and I said to him, it would be my dream to be a cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And he’s like, you have a job here, I don’t understand why you would want to leave. And I said, I know, it’s just this is my childhood dream. And he said, OK, if you go there and get cast on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ I will let you out of your contract."
The audition was a big success, though the big problem was that she got an offer to work behind the camera at the start. This wasn't part of her agreement alongside 'The Office.'
"Lorne [Michaels] wanted to offer me a job as a writer there, but not as a performer. But there was some hint at that point that if I stayed on long enough, like Jason Sudeikis, that I could maybe graduate to be a performer. That was dangled to me, so I thought, well that’s pretty exciting. So I went back and talked to Greg about it and he said to me, no, that’s not the deal we made. The deal we made is that if you get cast as a cast member you can go."
Kaling realizes her career could've changed dramatically had she accepted the role.
"I think the course of my career would have gone really differently had I left ‘The Office’ and done that instead.”
Despite the fact that she didn't land the role, it is great to see how dramatically her career shifted since the snub that took place earlier in her career, on another sketch comedy show.
Sources: Indie Wire, Twitter & The Guardian