Where you might know him from: Before enrolling in Greendale COMMUNITY College, actor Danny Pudi got his big break at… would you believe Yale? Well, sort of. Being cast on GILMORE GIRLS as one of Paris’ hard-working peons at the campus newspaper not only prepared him perfectly for his current gig as pop-culture-holic Abed (“I had to speak really quickly on a very fast-paced show!”), but served as a great welcome to television. “Coming onto the show with four other Yale Daily News staffers, I didn’t know what to expect, but Liza Weil [Paris] was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met in my life… so genuine and nothing like her character!”
On how his life has changed: The mansion, the entourage, the car… are not Pudi’s style. “I still wake up, eat my eggs, oatmeal, go the the gym, do some squatting and run on the treadmill. That’s my life,” reveals the ridiculously down-to-earth actor. “Except every now and then people come up to me and say, ‘We love COMMUNITY!’ Which is so exciting — to be able to share this with people — as I love performing and being on stage.”
On when he expects to forget the ‘little’ people: Turns out, repeatedly being told he’s this fall’s breakout star has yet to go to his head… or has it? “I won’t remember any of this,” he jokes. “In fact, the only person I will remember is me, as that’s the kind of guy I am!” Of course, in reality, he admits to being “a big family-and-friends guy. Which is good because when people are like, ‘That’s really funny,’ it’s my family and friends back in Chicago who bring me down to earth by chiming in with, ‘You could have done better!’ My mom especially.” 