Home Entertainment Vinita Khilnani, an American Actor, Comedian and Singer

Vinita Khilnani, an American Actor, Comedian and Singer

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Vinita Khilnani, an American Actor, Comedian and Singer

“I love making people laugh, that’s my passion” says Vinita who also spends time with children of the area to make them aware of environment, besides helping the young girls to get their lives back on track.

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Vinita Khilnani is an actor, comedian, improviser and singer based in Los Angeles, Ca. She also is a voice over actor with a library of voices/characters. She holds the title as 2018 Miss India North America and is using her platform to encourage other young diverse people to pursue their dreams.

You have probably seen Vinita in numerous Buzzfeed and Smile Squad videos as well as a few commercials for Toyota, Geico, Sunday Riley, Walmart and Chewy.com. She is known for her viral video titled, How Our Parents Used To Take Pictures” which she posted on TikTok and Instagram and absolutely took the internet by storm!

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Vinita Khilnani at the 2018 Miss India North America pageant.

She has done musical theatre and performed on sketch and improve teams. She is a car enthusiast and huge animal lover. Vinita also pursued pop singing where she wrote her own songs and toured and also finished two master’s degrees in science. She is a recipient of the Groundlings Diversity Scholarship and performed with the Story Pirates. She was awarded Best Supporting Actress in a dark comedy “Dead To Me” in the Sweden Film Festival. She also spends her time as an Eco Hero, teaching kids in classrooms about helping the environment. You can also watch Vinita as Endario Zinn in the new Disney Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Experience.

Vinita Khilnani is a regular host of Morning Octane, a premiere LA Cars and Coffee quarterly event.

Vinita KhilnaniBorn and raised in South Pasadena, California, from a young age, Vinita loved family parties, because it provided her the opportunity to sing and host her own version of Jeopardy.  After completing her education, where she earned M.S. in Biology and Masters in Public Health, she decided to dedicate her life to the arts.  After signing a record deal and touring as a pop-singer, Vinita fell in love with Improvisational Comedy while studying at the Groundlings. She has written and performed on two all-female sketch teams, Stiletto Sketch and Butter and she is currently in production of a re-imagined version of The Jungle Book.

Vinita Khilnani began her professional acting career back in 2015. Following on from her first role, Vinita later made appearances in Film Femmes (2016), Boomers (2018), and Love at First Cousin (2018).

Vinita Khilnani-3Vinita was born in 1994 to a Singaporean mother and Indian Sindhi father.

In an interview, in 2018, Vinita said, “I used to get bullied in middle school. People would always make fun of my skin color. I decided to use my uniqueness to be proud of who I am and where I came from. Growing up I was always told I had to become a doctor, because that’s what Indian people do. I was always the rebel of the family and wanted to pursue other things.”

Vinita believes laughter is the best medicine and feels everyone needs to lighten up a little and not be so stressed.

“I love making people laugh; that’s my passion,” she said.

Vinita Khilnani-1Vinita also spends a lot of time giving back to the community. She sits on a board for the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, whose mission is to bring music education back into the schools of underserved neighborhoods. They reach 4,500 students in the LA area, with a year-long program that integrates with and enhances students’ understanding of math, reading, science, history and creative writing. She also spends her time as president of a Cottage Guild, as they fundraise and volunteer with foster girls who are trying to get their lives back on track.

About taking up honor at the 2018 Miss India North America pageant in Los Angeles, Vinita said, “I feel proud that I won the pageant representing my Indian heritage and South Pasadena and I hope to encourage young women to participate because it will give them confidence and help them better themselves.”

After finishing school and ending her music career, she began two more projects simultaneously. Khilnani is a private tutor and test prep specialist and has a knack for comedy.

“I work with a lot of kids in the area helping them with their homework, especially science and math, and getting them ready for tests,” she said. “I love educating kids and providing them with a solid foundation.”

While hosting a car event for Rusnak in Pasadena, Khilnani met someone who got her involved with the Symphony Jazz Orchestra, of which she is now a board member.

Vinita Khilnani-2“I believe there is a correlation between music and math and this allows me to use my background as a teacher and as a musician for the kids,” she said.

“I encourage my students to be aware of the environment,” she said. “I want to motivate them to do things that will help our planet.”

Khilnani won an award while attending SPHS for completing 1,600 hours of work at the L.A. Zoo. “I was obsessed with helping animals and I believe we need to continue to help protect them,” she said. “We are destroying much of their natural habitat.”

Khilnani is also part of the Rosemary Children’s Services in Pasadena, which is dedicated to helping get young girls’ lives back on track.

“We have a group of ladies and we go to homes and do activities with the teenage girls,” she said. “It’s a blessing to see these girls get better because many of them have had it rough. It makes me appreciate how lucky I was to be raised in South Pasadena.

Vinita-Khilani-Main“I love comedy and joined the Groundlings a few years ago where I can create my own characters,” she said. “At Groundlings, they concentrate on characters with the improv and I love that challenge of creating characters,” she said. Khilnani also joined the Upright Citizens Brigade to fully explore her comedic talent.

“I was doing comedy since I was a child and I grew up watching ‘I Love Lucy,’” she said. “Lucille Ball used everyday situations and made them funny. It was all about character in her show.”

Khilnani believes laughter is the best medicine and feels everyone needs to lighten up a little and not be so stressed. “I love making people laugh, that’s my passion,” she said.

“There are a lot of unhappy people in this world and I just want to make people laugh,” she said.

“I’m really torn between science and entertainment and what to do about all these interests,” she said. “There are so many things that I can do and I want to do it all.”

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Courtesy: South Pasadena Review, Urban Asian, Vinita Khilnani, Carsyeah, Celebs, Circle of Cricket.  

 

 

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