Indian American stand-up comedian Aziz Ansari made history by winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV series – Musical or Comedy – for his role in ‘Master of None.’
It is a historic win for Ansari as he is the first Asian male to win the award in this category. He plays the role of Dev Shah, a New York-based actor who is struggling to identify what he really wants, in the Netflix series. The original comedy series based on Ansari’s real-life experiences were created by thespian Ansari and writer Alan Yang.
“I genuinely didn’t think I was going to win because all of the websites said I was going to lose,” Ansari said while accepting the award, Popsugar reported. “I’m glad we won this one because it would’ve really sucked to lose two of these in a row; it would’ve been a really sh*tty moment for me, but this is nice.”
The 34-year-old actor beat Black-ish‘s Anthony Anderson, I Love Dick’s Kevin Bacon, Shameless’ William H. Macy, and Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack to win the award.
“I want to thank Italy for all of the amazing food we ate in season two,” Aziz said. He thanked his parents – who play the role of his parents in the show too — “for giving me so much love.”
Ansari had lost the same award to Gael García Bernal for ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ last year.
The actor began his career performing stand-up comedy in New York City in mid-2000 while attending New York University. Ansari is an actor, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series Parks and Recreation (2009-2015).
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Tamil Muslim parents, Ansari released his debut CD/DVD on Comedy Central Records in 2010, and tours nationally as a stand-up comedian between his acting commitments. In 2015, Ansari managed to slot into sixth place on Forbes’ list of the highest paid comedians with his annual earning reaching $9.5 million.