Karan Soni

Karan Soni
Karan Soni
	Soni at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	January 8, 1989 (age 36); New Delhi, India
Citizenship	United States
Education	USC School of Dramatic Arts
Occupations	Actor; comedian;
Years active	2010–present
Partner	Roshan Sethi

Karan Soni (born January 8, 1989) is an Indian-American actor and comedian. Often appearing in comedic roles, he came to prominence for playing Dopinder in the films Deadpool (2016) and its sequels Deadpool 2 (2018) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and voicing Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).

Born in New Delhi, Soni moved to the United States to study business at the University of Southern California before pursuing an acting career. He made his feature film debut in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), which was followed by lead appearances on the series Betas (2013) and Other Space (2015). Soni has also appeared in the films Ghostbusters (2016), Office Christmas Party (2016), and Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019). On television, he has appeared as a series regular on Blunt Talk (2015–2016) and Miracle Workers (2019–2023).

Early life

Soni was born in New Delhi, India, and he attended an international school there. He came to the United States to study at the University of Southern California.^[1]

Career

Soni made his film debut in Yusuf Sumer's 2010 comedy film Kaka Nirvana, alongside Rachel Quinn.^[2] In 2013, Soni was cast in the Amazon Studios original series Betas.^[3] The series was canceled after one season.^[4] In 2014, Soni appeared in commercials for AT&T along with Jim Conroy.^[5]^[6]

In 2015, Soni appeared in Other Space, a series created by Paul Feig for Yahoo! Screen, as Captain Stewart Lipinski.^[7] Yahoo! Screen would be shut down later in the year, preventing the series from being renewed for a second season,^[8] while the first season would later be picked up by DUST in 2020. Later in 2015, he appeared in episodes of Melissa & Joey,^[9] The Goldbergs^[10] and 100 Things to Do Before High School^[11]^[12] and began starring in Blunt Talk, opposite Patrick Stewart, as Martin.^[13] The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered in 2016,^[14] but on December 20, was canceled after two seasons.^[15]

In 2016, Soni appeared in Deadpool as a taxi driver named Dopinder^[16] and in Ghostbusters as the delivery man Benny.^[16] He reprised the role of Dopinder in 2018's Deadpool 2 and also appeared in another May blockbuster film, the following year's Pokémon Detective Pikachu.^[17] In both Deadpool films and Pokémon Detective Pikachu, he starred opposite Ryan Reynolds.

In February 2023, Soni was announced as the voice of Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.^[18] In March 2023, he was confirmed to be returning as Dopinder for Deadpool & Wolverine.^[19] In August 2024, Soni confirmed that he would reprise his role as Spider-Man India in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.^[20]

Personal life

Soni is gay.^[21] He is in a relationship with writer and director Roshan Sethi, with whom he developed the film 7 Days.^[22]

Filmography

Key
†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Kaka Nirvana	Kemal	Short film
2012	Safety Not Guaranteed	Arnau
2012	Bit by Bit	Chander	Short film
2014	Supremacy	Store Clerk
2014	Obedient Artists	Jaxton
2015	Goosebumps	Mr. Rooney
2016	Deadpool	Dopinder
	Chee and T	Roger Raval
	The Sweet Life	Convenience Store Clerk
	Mono	Amit Chowdury
	Ghostbusters	Benny
	Office Christmas Party	Nate Winetoss
2017	Rough Night	Raviv
	And Then There Was Eve	Zain
	Unicorn Store	Kevin
	Creep 2	Dave
2018	Little Bitches	Hall Monitor Andy
	Deadpool 2	Dopinder
	Better Start Running	Nelson
	Office Uprising	Mourad
2019	Corporate Animals	Freddie
	Pokémon Detective Pikachu	Jack
	Always Be My Maybe	Tony
2020	Like a Boss	Josh Tinker
	Trolls World Tour	Riff	Voice
	Superintelligence	Ahmed
	Coffee Shop Names	Sathya/Scott	Short film^[23]
2021	7 Days	Ravi	Also writer
2022	Not Okay	Kelvin
	The People We Hate at the Wedding	Dominic
	Strange World	Caspian	Voice
2023	Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse	Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India
2023	World's Best	Calming Voice
2024	A Nice Indian Boy	Naveen Gavaskar
	Paper Flowers	Milan Mehta
	Deadpool & Wolverine	Dopinder
	Stealing Pulp Fiction	Steve
TBA	Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse †	Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India	Voice; In production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	The Protector	Kenny	Episode: "Safe"
2011	Worst. Prom. Ever.	Glenn	Television film
2012	Touch	Ravi	Episode: "1+1=3"
	Linked Out	Keith	Episode: "Facebook Intervention"
	1600 Penn	Misfit	Episode: "Putting Out Fires"
	Bite Me	Teacher's Assistant	Episode: "Continue!"
	Are You There, Chelsea?	Stan	Episode: "Sloane's Ex"
2012–2013	The Neighbors	Indian Allen	2 episodes
2012–2013	Geo's Pizza	Asheed	8 episodes
2013	Little Horribles	Unknown	Episode: "Road Rage"
	Trophy Wife	Graduate No. 2	Episode: "Pilot"
	Aim High	Mingesha Dutta	Episode 2.2
	The Middle	Vijal	Episode: "Life Skills"
2013–2014	Mighty Med	Benny	3 episodes
2013–2014	Betas	Avinash "Nash" Dagavi	Main role
2014	Growing Up Fisher	Owen	Episode: "Secret Lives of Fishers"
2015	Melissa & Joey	Flash	Episode: "Failure to Communicate"
	Other Space	Stewart Lipinski	Main role
	100 Things to Do Before High School	Caltech Dude	Episode: "Be a Mad Scientist Thing!"
	Any Tom, Dick, or Harry	Ernie Dassani	Television film
2015–2016	Blunt Talk	Martin Bassi	Recurring (season 1) Main role (season 2)
2015–2017	The Goldbergs	Randy Mescunda, Srinivas Bollimpalli	6 episodes
2016	The Grinder	Cooper	Episode: "From the Ashes"; uncredited
2017	I Live with Models	Marshall	5 episodes
	What Would Diplo Do?	Bellboy	1 episode
	Silicon Valley	Tenley	Episode: "Hooli-Con"
	Room 104	Anish	Episode: "The Internet"
2018	Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters	Ravi	Episode: "Mermaid"
2018	Wrecked	Keith	2 episodes
2019	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Gordon Lundt	Episode: "The Honeypot"
	Miracle Workers	Sanjay Prince	Main role
	Will & Grace	Mike	Episode: "With Enemies Like These"
2020	Miracle Workers: Dark Ages	Lord Chris Vexler	Main role
	Cake	Himself	Episode: "Auditions: No Reader"
	Dream Corp LLC	Patient 27	Episode: "Fear of Heights"
	Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun	Jerry Seinfeld	Episode: "Housemates"
	Big Mouth		Voice, episode: "Four Stories About Hand Stuff"
2020–2021	Mira, Royal Detective	Manjeet	Voice, 10 episodes
2021	Special^[24]	Dev Laghari	2 episodes
	Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail	The Gunslinger	Main role
	Trolls: Holiday in Harmony	Riff	Voice, television film
2021–2022	Karma's World	Mr. Rishi Singal	Voice, 11 episodes
2022	The Great North	Gavin	Voice, episode: "Woodfellas Adventure"
2022	Home Economics	Tod	Episode: "Novel Signed by Author, $22.19"
2022–2023	The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib	Pip	Voice, 25 episodes
2023	Miracle Workers: End Times	TI-90, Tai	Main role, 10 episodes
2023	Strange Planet	Being #1 / Bestie	Voice, episode: "Adolescent Limbshake"
2024	Abbott Elementary	Avi	Director, episode: "Librarian"; Actor, 3 episodes

Podcast

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	The Coldest Case	Edgar	3 episodes
	Bridgewater	Vipin Kharana	8 episodes
	Dark Air with Terry Carnation	Jeet Batra	18 episodes

References

^ Jha, Neha (February 22, 2016). "Meet Deadpool's Dopinder: Indian-American Karan Soni shares his experience". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
^ "Deadpool actor Karan Soni: A white guy voicing an Indian character in 2018 is not okay". Hindustan Times. May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 18, 2013). "Amazon Studios Comedy Pilot 'Betas' Assembles Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Kimball, Trevor (April 3, 2014). "Betas: Amazon Series Cancelled, No Season Two". TVSeriesFinale.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Ramachandran, Vignesh (April 21, 2015). "Karan Soni, That Guy From The AT&T Commercials Takes The Silver Screen". Ozy.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Rohwedder, Kristie (February 13, 2015). "Who Are The Actors Who Play The Network Experts In the AT&T Commercials? These Guys Are Good". Bustle.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Donnelly, Matt (April 15, 2015). "Why Paul Feig Chose Streaming for His New Comedy 'Other Space'". TheWrap.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Brouwer, Bree (October 21, 2015). "Yahoo Lost $42 Million On 'Community' and Two Other Originals". TubeFilter. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ "Joey Lawrence, Karan Soni, Melissa Joan Hart". TeenInfonet.com. February 3, 2015. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ "Scoop: The Goldbergs on ABC - Tonight, October 21, 2015". BroadwayWorld.com. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ "Mad Scientists - "100 Things to Do Before High School"". Nickalive.blogspot.com. November 21, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Wariach, Sonia (November 9, 2015). "Catch Karan Soni's Blink-and-Miss Role as Mr. Rooney in 'Goosebumps'". Indiawest.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Baron, Steve (February 24, 2015). "Starz Announces Recurring and Guest Cast for 'Blunt Talk' Starring Patrick Stewart". TVByTheNumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Goldberg, Lesley (April 29, 2014). "Starz Orders Two Seasons of Seth MacFarlane Comedy 'Blunt Talk'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ Roots, Kimberly (December 20, 2016). "Blunt Talk Cancelled at Starz". TVLine. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Exclusive: Karan Soni Talks Deadpool, Improvising with Ryan Reynolds". ComicBook.com. October 30, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
^ "Watch Pokemon Detective Pikachu (Movie)". HBO. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
^ "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' Casts Karan Soni As Spider-Man India". Deadline. February 23, 2023.
^ Kroll, Justin (March 29, 2023). "Karan Soni & Leslie Uggams Returning For Next 'Deadpool' Installment". Deadline. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
^ Pereira, Karen (August 9, 2024). "Karan Soni: Deadpool and Spider-Man have a special relationship in the comics; it will be used at some point – Exclusive". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
^ @funnyindian (July 17, 2022). "Actor @itskaransoni Karan Soni's Coming Out Story" – via Instagram.
^ Chapman, Wilson (April 4, 2022). "The Cast and Crew of '7 Days' on Reliving Quarantine as a Romantic Comedy". Variety. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
^ Vuocolo, Alex; O'Driscoll, Keara; Dangor, Graison; Ross, Dina (May 25, 2023). "What to Stream: Vanderpump Reunion, Sorority Rush, Sketch Comedy Fav & Coffee Shop Names". Cheddar News. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
^ Petski, Denise (March 29, 2021). "'Special': Charlie Barnett, Max Jenkins, Ana Ortiz Among Nine Set To Recur In Season 2 Of Netflix Series". Deadline. Retrieved June 3, 2021.

External links

[1] Jha, Neha (February 22, 2016). "Meet Deadpool's Dopinder: Indian-American Karan Soni shares his experience". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved February 14, 2019.

[2] "Deadpool actor Karan Soni: A white guy voicing an Indian character in 2018 is not okay". Hindustan Times. May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2020.

[3] Andreeva, Nellie (October 18, 2013). "Amazon Studios Comedy Pilot 'Betas' Assembles Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[4] Kimball, Trevor (April 3, 2014). "Betas: Amazon Series Cancelled, No Season Two". TVSeriesFinale.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[5] Ramachandran, Vignesh (April 21, 2015). "Karan Soni, That Guy From The AT&T Commercials Takes The Silver Screen". Ozy.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[6] Rohwedder, Kristie (February 13, 2015). "Who Are The Actors Who Play The Network Experts In the AT&T Commercials? These Guys Are Good". Bustle.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[7] Donnelly, Matt (April 15, 2015). "Why Paul Feig Chose Streaming for His New Comedy 'Other Space'". TheWrap.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[8] Brouwer, Bree (October 21, 2015). "Yahoo Lost $42 Million On 'Community' and Two Other Originals". TubeFilter. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[9] "Joey Lawrence, Karan Soni, Melissa Joan Hart". TeenInfonet.com. February 3, 2015. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[10] "Scoop: The Goldbergs on ABC - Tonight, October 21, 2015". BroadwayWorld.com. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[11] "Mad Scientists - "100 Things to Do Before High School"". Nickalive.blogspot.com. November 21, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[12] Wariach, Sonia (November 9, 2015). "Catch Karan Soni's Blink-and-Miss Role as Mr. Rooney in 'Goosebumps'". Indiawest.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[13] Baron, Steve (February 24, 2015). "Starz Announces Recurring and Guest Cast for 'Blunt Talk' Starring Patrick Stewart". TVByTheNumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[14] Goldberg, Lesley (April 29, 2014). "Starz Orders Two Seasons of Seth MacFarlane Comedy 'Blunt Talk'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[15] Roots, Kimberly (December 20, 2016). "Blunt Talk Cancelled at Starz". TVLine. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2016.

[auto-16] "Exclusive: Karan Soni Talks Deadpool, Improvising with Ryan Reynolds". ComicBook.com. October 30, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

[17] "Watch Pokemon Detective Pikachu (Movie)". HBO. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.

[18] "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' Casts Karan Soni As Spider-Man India". Deadline. February 23, 2023.

[19] Kroll, Justin (March 29, 2023). "Karan Soni & Leslie Uggams Returning For Next 'Deadpool' Installment". Deadline. Retrieved March 29, 2023.

[20] Pereira, Karen (August 9, 2024). "Karan Soni: Deadpool and Spider-Man have a special relationship in the comics; it will be used at some point – Exclusive". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.

[21] @funnyindian (July 17, 2022). "Actor @itskaransoni Karan Soni's Coming Out Story" – via Instagram.

[22] Chapman, Wilson (April 4, 2022). "The Cast and Crew of '7 Days' on Reliving Quarantine as a Romantic Comedy". Variety. Retrieved November 11, 2022.

[23] Vuocolo, Alex; O'Driscoll, Keara; Dangor, Graison; Ross, Dina (May 25, 2023). "What to Stream: Vanderpump Reunion, Sorority Rush, Sketch Comedy Fav & Coffee Shop Names". Cheddar News. Retrieved November 7, 2023.

[24] Petski, Denise (March 29, 2021). "'Special': Charlie Barnett, Max Jenkins, Ana Ortiz Among Nine Set To Recur In Season 2 Of Netflix Series". Deadline. Retrieved June 3, 2021.

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