Parvesh Cheena

Last updated

Parvesh Cheena
Born
Parvesh Singh Cheena

OccupationActor
Years active2002–present

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 .

Contents

Early life

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

In 2002, he scored his first role in a feature film, Barbershop , playing the character Samir. [3] He would play Samir again in the 2004 sequel, Barbershop 2: Back in Business . [4]

In 2007, he would play characters in the films Because I Said So and Universal Remote. [5] The next year, he acted in The Other End of the Line and The Ode . [5] In 2009, he played Zerban in the film House Broken . [5] He would play Abhay in the 2014 film Hello I Must Be Going . [6] In 2015, he would play Eric in Everything Before Us . [5]

He played Franklin in the 2016 film, Time Toys. [7] In 2017, he would play Rohan in the film Literally, Right Before Aaron . [5] He played a pet shop owner named Mr. Richland in the 2019 film Lady and the Tramp . [8]

In 2020, he would play the character Jimit Uncle in the film Definition Please . [9] He would play an electronics store manager in 2021, in the film Music. [5]

In 2022, he voiced a character in The Bob's Burgers Movie . [5] The next year, he played Garrett in the film Sometimes I Think About Dying . [10] [11]

Personal life

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. [12] 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." [13]

He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. [14]

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. [15]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2002 Barbershop Samir
2004 Barbershop 2: Back in Business Samir
2007 Because I Said So Foreign Guy
2007Universal RemoteSammy, Baliff
2008 The Other End of the Line NY cabbie
2008 The Ode Salman
2009 House Broken Zerban
2014 Hello I Must Be Going Abhay
2015 Everything Before Us Eric
2016Time ToysFranklin
2017 Literally, Right Before Aaron Rohan
2019 Lady and the Tramp Pet Shop Owner
2020 Definition Please Jimit Uncle
2021 Music Electronics Store Manager
2022 The Bob's Burgers Movie Potential CustomerVoice
2023 Sometimes I Think About Dying Garrett

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2004 ER Dr. AgboEpisode: "Twas the Night"
2006 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Mr. BabalabalooEpisode: "Boston Holiday"
2006 The West Wing BaristaEpisode: "The Last Hurrah"
2006–2007 Help Me Help You Parvesh5 Episodes
2008 Brothers & Sisters Jordan2 Episodes
2007–2008 'Til Death Ken, Leo3 Episodes
2009 My Name Is Earl Savage Indian in JungleEpisode: "My Name is Alias"
2010 Sons of Tucson StewartEpisode: "Father's Day"
2010 Criminal Minds FatherEpisode: "A Rite of Passage"
2010–2011 Outsourced Gupta22 episodes
2011 The Fresh Beat Band GenieEpisode: "Bollywood Beats – Jai Ho"
2011–2016 Transformers: Rescue Bots BladesVoice, main role
2012 Squad 85 Alan RickmanEpisode: "It's Not the Work, It's the Stares"
2013 Arrested Development KabirEpisode: "Indian Takers"
2013–2014 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja PradeepVoice, 4 episodes
2013 Sean Saves the World Jerry7 episodes
2014 A to Z Dinesh13 episodes
2015–2018 The Goldbergs Andy Cesunda3 episodes
2016–2019 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Sunil Odhav8 episodes
2017 The Odd Couple Neil ArmstrongEpisode: "Conscious Odd Coupling"
2017 Fresh Off The Boat Mr. O'ConnorEpisode: "Pie vs. Cake"
2018 The Big Bang Theory MarcusEpisode: "The Tenant Disassociation"
2018 Alone Together NeelEpisode: "Pootie"
2018–2022 Craig of the Creek RajVoice, 10 episodes
2018 The Guest Book Sabu2 episodes
2019 Mr. Mom JerryEpisode: "Pilot"
2019 All Rise Sai Dalal2 episodes
2019–2022 T.O.T.S. BodhiVoice, recurring role
2019–2020 The Rocketeer DeanyVoice, recurring role
2020Code-SwitchedParveshEpisode: "Soft Brown Boys"
2020–2022 Mira, Royal Detective ManishVoice, 13 episodes
2020–2022 The Owl House TibblesVoice, recurring role
2020 Connecting Pradeep8 episodes
2021 Mythic Quest Zach2 episodes
2021 Centaurworld ZuliusVoice, main role
2021–2022 Central Park TaylorVoice, 2 episodes
2022 Raven's Home ConductorEpisode: "A Streetcar Named Conspire"
2022–2023 Shining Vale Laird7 episodes
2022 The Resort Ted2 episodes
2022 The Rookie: Feds RossEpisode: "Face Off"
2022–2023 Oddballs Principal LoudspeakerVoice, Episode: "Breaking and Entering"
2023 The Legend of Vox Machina Young DignitaryVoice, Episode: "The Trials of Vasselheim"
2023 History of the World, Part II PublisherEpisode: "I"
2023 The Mandalorian Nevarro Copper DroidVoice, 3 episodes
2023 Frasier Dev Sharma2 episodes
2023 That Girl Lay Lay Mr. KimesEpisode: "How Zelda Got Her Groove Back Back"
2024 The Conners Trivia Game HostEpisode: "When Sisters Collide and The Return of the Grifters"

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References

  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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Parvesh Cheena Movies". Moviefone.com. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  6. "Cast in Order of Appearance". Corporate Series. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  7. "Time Toys". Laemmle Theaters. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  8. Aguilar, Matthew (August 24, 2019). "Fans Can't Get Enough of the Lady and the Tramp Stars". ComicBook.com . Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  9. Valdivia, Paul (August 26, 2020). "The 'Definition Please' Trailer Looks Like It'll Break My Heart And Then Make It Whole Again". BuzzFeed . Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  10. Kroll, Justin (April 19, 2023). "Daisy Ridley's Sundance Pic 'Sometimes I Think About Dying' Lands At Oscilloscope". Deadline . Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  11. Jones, Tamera (February 2, 2023). "Daisy Ridley & the Cast and Director of 'Sometimes I Think About Dying' on How Humanity Impacted the Film's Story--Sundance". Collider . Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. @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.
  15. "Outsourced: Gupta played by Parvesh Cheena". NBC Universal. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.