Vir Das is an Indian comedian and a Bollywood actor. His spontaneity and proficiency in acting and ability to generate high quality intellectual comedy has been immensely lauded by the critics. His comic skills have a distinct appeal which the arena of Indian comedy was missing since ages and Vir has been appropriately filling that void. Vir Das has about 6 comedy specials, 8 TV shows, 100 stand-up comedy shows and 35 plays to his credit. His venture into Bollywood has further added to his fame as a performer. Apart from these, Vir Das also writes comedy columns in magazines like Tehelka, DNA, Exotica, Maxim and Femina.

Early Life of Vir Das
Vir Das, also known as Vir Saran Das, was born on 31st May 1979 in Dehradun and has also dwelled in Africa. He did his schooling in Indian Language School in Lagos, Nigeria, Shimla and Delhi. He graduated from Knox College, Illinois in Economics and Theatre with a concentration in performance. After graduation he was accepted into Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts for their Stanislavsky Program in coalition with the Moscow Arts Theatre.

Career of Vir Das
Vir Das began his career at Knox as a stand up comedian. His first show was Brown Men Can`t Hump where he performed before an audience of 800 at Knox`s Harbach Theatre. Subsequently he received a Richter Scholarship for Theatre and the Colton Performance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting from Knox. He thus started working as a teaching assistant for Beginning Acting at Knox. At Harvard, Vir Das received training as a method actor for about six months and acted in about eight plays with the Moscow Arts Theatre. Once during a visit to India, he performed at the Habitat Centre, New Delhi. During his days in USA Vir Das was amongst the cast members for three sketch comedy troupes namely Illegal Aliens, Improv Inc and Really Useless Improv. He was also a part of a ship comedian team at Carnival Cruise Line between Houston and Mexico. Apart from these, Vir Das has also worked in comedy clubs of Chicago.

In the year 2003 Vir Das returned to India and began performing in comedy shows in the prominent cities of India. At the India Habitat centre, he performed in a comedy show of six episodes written and directed by him in front of more than 900 audiences every night. Vir Das ventured into Indian television as an anchor of two shows telecasted on Zoom channel. The first show was Is Route Ki Sabhin Linein Maast Hain where he portrayed an agony uncle and the second one was Ek Rahin Vir. He has also hosted a sports comedy show titled Cricket Firsts and performed in an improvisational comedy on SAB TV`s Lo Kar Lo Baat. Other shows hosted by Vir Das include Now Not Showing and News on the Loose. The latter was a huge hit and gained applauses for its intelligent comedy. He portrayed the role of a major comic character in a Hallmark mini-series filmed in India titled The Curse of King Tut`s Tomb.

In the year 2006 Vir Das stepped into the Hindi film industry. He appeared in a cameo role in the Vipul Shah`s hit movie Namastey London. He was seen in prominent roles in the successful films like Badmaash Company and Delhi Belly. His career graph ascended notably through his performances in Bollywood flicks like Love Aaj Kal, Go Goa Gone, Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Revolver Rani and many more. Vir Das has also been into column writing for esteemed magazines and newspapers.

Filmography of Vir Das