Mindy Kaling will receive the Producers Guild of America’s Norman Lear Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Producers Guild Awards, taking place at The Beverly Hilton Feb. 25.
“The Sex Lives of College Girls” creator joins previous honorees Greg Berlanti, Marta Kauffman, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, Dick Wolf, Jerry Bruckheimer, Lorne Michaels, Aaron Spelling, David E. Kelley and Lear himself. The honor recognizes a “producer or producing team for their extraordinary body of work in television.”
“Comedy can break boundaries and push culture forward; Mindy Kaling‘s immense contributions to the television comedy landscape are prime examples of this truth,” PGA presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line said in a statement. “Kaling is known for her trailblazing work on ‘The Office,’ a widely loved and infinitely rewatchable contemporary classic, but it’s her work producing series from diverse female perspectives that is reshaping the industry. From ‘The Mindy Project,’ to ‘Never Have I Ever,’ to ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ Kaling has proven just how much audiences have been craving funny, relatable stories about characters we’ve rarely see as television protagonists. We are so happy to present her with the Norman Lear Award at this year’s PGA Awards ceremony.”
Kaling added, “It is such an honor to be asked to receive the Norman Lear Award, a prize named after the prolific and groundbreaking producer I am so inspired by. To be included in this prestigious group of past recipients is humbling, and I’m so grateful to the Producers Guild for this recognition.”
The Emmy-nominated writer-producer is a bona fide multi-hyphenate as a New York Times bestselling author, director, actor and recently minted Tony Award winner for her producing work on Broadway’s “A Strange Loop.”
At 24 years old, Kaling joined the eight-person writing staff of “The Office” as the only woman. During her eight seasons on the show, she served as both producer and EP on over 120 episodes, earning five consecutive nominations for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. She also notably starred as Kelly Kapoor, wrote 26 episodes (more than any other writer) and directed two episodes. Her work led her to be the first woman of color to be Emmy nominated in any writing category.
After her tenure at “The Office,” Kaling went on to create, star in and executive produce “The Mindy Project,” which ran for six seasons first on Fox and later Hulu. She also wrote, produced and starred in her feature film debut, “Late Night,” alongside Emma Thompson. Kaling currently serves as creator and EP of Netflix’s critically acclaimed “Never Have I Ever” and the HBO Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”
Her upcoming projects include “Legally Blonde 3” and the animated adult-comedy Scooby-Doo prequel, “Velma.” The prolific creative has two producing deals: one at Warner Bros. Television and a recently inked Amazon Publishing and Amazon Studios deal, where she will launch a boutique literary line, Mindy’s Book Studio, with the aim of adapting material into movies to stream on Prime Video.
