Parvesh Singh Cheena is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Gupta in the TV series Outsourced and as Sunil Odhav on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He also voices Bodhi in T.O.T.S. and Blades in Transformers: Rescue Bots.

Parvesh Cheena
Born
Parvesh Singh Cheena

OccupationActor
Years active2002–present

Early life

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Cheena was born in Elk Grove Village, Illinois and is of Indian descent. He grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and went to Waubonsie Valley High School.[1] He studied musical theatre at the Chicago College of Performing Arts.[2]

Career

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Cheena's first feature film role was in Barbershop as Samir.[3] He reprised the role in the 2004 sequel, Barbershop 2: Back in Business.[4] His other film roles include Because I Said So (2007), The Other End of the Line and The Ode (2008), House Broken (2009), Just Before I Go (2014), Everything Before Us (2015), Time Toys (2016), Literally, Right Before Aaron (2017), Lady and the Tramp (2019), Definition Please (2020), Music (2021), The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022), and Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023).[5]

Personal life

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Cheena is gay. He told Michael Jensen of AfterElton in September 2010 that he came out in college, told his family at age 21, and was in a relationship with a script coordinator at the time.[6] In August 2021, he criticized representation of gay characters in media, telling Insider that "White people were allowed to be gay, in a sense, or be queer as an identifier. People see our color and ethnicity first before our sexuality."[7]

He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.[8]

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.[9]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 Barbershop Samir
2004 Barbershop 2: Back in Business Samir
2007 Because I Said So Foreign Guy
2007 Universal Remote Sammy, Baliff
2008 The Other End of the Line NY cabbie
2008 The Ode Salman
2009 House Broken Zerban
2014 Just Before I Go Abhay
2015 Everything Before Us Eric
2016 Time Toys Franklin
2017 Literally, Right Before Aaron Rohan
2019 Lady and the Tramp Mr. Richland
2020 Definition Please Jimit Uncle
2021 Music Electronics Store Manager
2022 The Bob's Burgers Movie Potential Customer Voice
2023 Sometimes I Think About Dying Garrett

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 ER Dr. Agbo Episode: "Twas the Night"
2006 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Mr. Babalabaloo Episode: "Boston Holiday"
2006 The West Wing Barista Episode: "The Last Hurrah"
2006 The O.C. Passerby Episode: "The Avengers"
2006–2007 Help Me Help You Parvesh 5 Episodes
2008 Brothers & Sisters Jordan 2 Episodes
2007–2008 'Til Death Ken, Leo 3 Episodes
2009 My Name Is Earl Savage Indian in Jungle Episode: "My Name is Alias"
2010 Sons of Tucson Stewart Episode: "Father's Day"
2010 Criminal Minds Father Episode: "A Rite of Passage"
2010–2011 Outsourced Gupta 22 episodes
2011 The Fresh Beat Band Genie Episode: "Bollywood Beats – Jai Ho"
2011–2016 Transformers: Rescue Bots Blades, additional voices Voice, main role[10]
2012 Squad 85 Alan Rickman Episode: "It's Not the Work, It's the Stares"
2013 Arrested Development Kabir Episode: "Indian Takers"
2013–2014 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Pradeep Voice, 4 episodes
2013 Sean Saves the World Jerry 7 episodes
2014 A to Z Dinesh 13 episodes
2015–2018 The Goldbergs Andy Cesunda 3 episodes
2016 TripTank Sajeep Voice, episode: "Crime Steve Investigation"[10]
2016–2019 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Sunil Odhav 8 episodes
2017 The Odd Couple Neil Armstrong Episode: "Conscious Odd Coupling"
2017 Fresh Off The Boat Mr. O'Connor Episode: "Pie vs. Cake"
2018 The Big Bang Theory Marcus Episode: "The Tenant Disassociation"
2018 Alone Together Neel Episode: "Pootie"
2018–2022 Craig of the Creek Raj Voice, 10 episodes
2018 The Guest Book Sabu 2 episodes
2019 Mr. Mom Jerry Episode: "Pilot"
2019 All Rise Sai Dalal 2 episodes
2019–2022 T.O.T.S. Bodhi Voice, recurring role[10]
2019–2020 The Rocketeer Deany Voice, recurring role[10]
2020 Code-Switched Parvesh Episode: "Soft Brown Boys"
2020–2022 Mira, Royal Detective Manish Voice, 13 episodes
2020–2022 The Owl House Tibbles Grimm Hammer Voice, recurring role[10]
2020 Connecting Pradeep 8 episodes
2021 Mythic Quest Zach 2 episodes
2021 Centaurworld Zulius Voice, main role[11][10]
2021–2022 Central Park Taylor Voice, 2 episodes
2022 Raven's Home Conductor Episode: "A Streetcar Named Conspire"
2022–2023 Shining Vale Laird 7 episodes
2022 The Resort Ted 2 episodes
2022 The Rookie: Feds Ross Episode: "Face Off"
2022 Oddballs Principal Loudspeaker Voice, episode: "Breaking and Entering"[10]
2023 The Legend of Vox Machina Waylon Amaredda Voice, episode: "The Trials of Vasselheim"[10]
2023 History of the World, Part II Publisher Episode: "I"
2023 The Mandalorian Nevarro Copper Droid Voice, 3 episodes[10]
2023 Frasier Dev Sharma 2 episodes
2023 That Girl Lay Lay Mr. Kimes Episode: "How Zelda Got Her Groove Back Back"
2023–2024 Pupstruction Rusty Whiskers Voice, recurring role[10]
2024 The Conners Trivia Game Host Episode: "When Sisters Collide and The Return of the Grifters"
2024 Ariel Ravi Voice, recurring role[10]

References

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  1. ^ Cheena, Parvesh [@Parvesh] (October 25, 2010). "Wow! My high school Alma Mater, WAUBONSIE VALLEY HIGH school, has the top show choir in the nation! Check Sound Check out" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2023 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Scheetz, Cameron (February 27, 2023). "Parvesh Cheena on sexy comics, being "queer as can be," and his brilliant drag name". Queerty. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  3. ^ Venkataramanan, Meena (April 8, 2023). "South Asian film is on the rise in America". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Cheena, Parvesh (October 4, 2010). "Interview: Parvesh Cheena is "Outsourced" and Out" (Interview). Interviewed by Alexander Stevenson. LogoTV. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  5. ^
  6. ^ Cheena, Parvesh (October 4, 2010). "Interview: Parvesh Cheena is "Outsourced" and Out". AfterElton (Interview). Interviewed by Michael Jensen. LogoTV. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  7. ^ White, Abbey; Chik, Kalai (August 31, 2021). "LGBTQ characters of color are making animation history — but creatives of color can't escape the industry's discriminatory past". Insider. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  8. ^ @Parvesh (November 28, 2020). "and yep. I guess this was a duh already but I'm all on board with the @DemSocialists. Already paid up and joined. I am older. I don't have the All IN OR NOTHING Mentality I did in my 20s. I needed @realDonaldTrump to lose and he has. Now let's work @DSA_LosAngeles @DSALongBeach 🌹" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 21, 2021 – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Outsourced: Gupta played by Parvesh Cheena". NBC Universal. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Parvesh Cheena (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 20, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  11. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (June 14, 2021). "Annecy: Netflix Kids & Family Animation Unbridles Centaurworld Trailer; New Images for Karma's World, Back to the Outback & Vivo". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
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