Vir Das (born 31 May 1979) is an Indian comedian, actor and musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like Badmaash Company (2010), Delhi Belly (2011), and Go Goa Gone (2013) in supporting roles. In 2017, he performed the Netflix special Abroad Understanding. Das has appeared in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows, 18 films, eight TV shows and six comedy specials. He has written comedic columns for Femina, Maxim, Exotica, DNA and Tehelka. In 2019, he made his debut in American television with the television series, Whiskey Cavalier. He won the 2023 International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series for the Netflix comedy special Vir Das: Landing.
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Biography
Vir Das was born to Ranu Das and Madhur Das in Dehradun on 31 May 1979. He was raised in Nigeria and India. In Nigeria, he attended the Indian Language School in Lagos, Nigeria. In India, he attended The Lawrence School, Sanawar and Delhi Public School, Noida. After 18 months at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi he went to the United States. There he obtained a bachelor's degree from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois in Economics and Theatre with a concentration in performance. After graduating from Knox, Das was accepted to Harvard University and Moscow Arts Theatre for their joint Stanislavsky Program. He has a sister Trisha, who is four years elder to him and is a published author and a documentary filmmaker. His grandfather Brajbir Saran Das was a Padma Shri awardee from Bengal. He married his girlfriend after five years of relationship, Shivani Mathur, in October 2014.
Career
Das returned to India in 2003 and performed a stand-up show at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, which he later described as a turning point in his career. He subsequently hosted the Times Food Guide Awards and, in 2005, began hosting television programmes on Zoom, including Is Route Ki Sabhin Linein Maast Hain and the late-night stand-up show Ek Rahin Vir. He became a corporate comedian before leaving the profession in 2007 to pursue stand-up full-time, writing and performing "Walking on Broken Das", at one of New Delhi's most premier hotels. In 2009, his production company Weirdass Productions launched Ham-ateur Nights, an open-mic series intended to provide a platform for emerging comedians; the shows were initially held at BlueFrog in Mumbai and were later planned for other Indian cities. The series was later described as an important meeting point for comedians who went on to become prominent figures in Indian stand-up, including Rohan Joshi, Varun Thakur and Tanmay Bhat.
Das was the host of News on the Loose, his own news comedy show on CNBC-TV18. News on the Loose was given its own weekly half-hour special News On The Loose — Weekend on CNBC-TV18.
Das was cast as the comic relief in The Curse of King Tut's Tomb, a Hallmark mini-series filmed in India. He began filming for his first two Bollywood roles in early 2006. He played a small role Vipul Shah's 2007 movie Namastey London.
Vir Das has also worked with Ashvin Gidwani Productions-AGP on stand-up shows like Walking on Broken Das, Battle of Da Sexes, and History of India: VIRitten, which he wrote and directed.
He performed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2011, 2022 and 2024.
On 25 April 2017, Das's Netflix special Abroad Understanding was released, in the process becoming the first Indian comedian with a comedy special on the platform. In December 2018, Das released his second Netflix comedy special, entitled Losing It. In 2019, Das released his travel-cum-comedy show Jestination Unknown where he explores how Indians see humour along with a couple of other stand-up comedians and celebrities.
He starred opposite Preity Zinta in a Fresh Off the Boat episode titled "The Magic Motor Inn". He plays the patriarch of an Indian family. Das's onscreen family was slated to be at the centre of the plot of the official spin-off of the same show. However, the show was not picked up by networks.
Works
Books
Das, Vir (2025). The Outsider: A Memoir for Misfits. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1668066324.
