Sunny Tripathy

Suneet "Sunny" Tripathy (born October 27, 1989), also referred to as stage name 'Sunny T, is an Indian-American actor, comedian, writer, producer, Mr. India Global and a former model.

Sunny Tripathy
Born	Suneet Tripathy (1989-10-27) October 27, 1989 Brampton, Canada
Other names	Sunny T
Education	University of California Los Angeles (BA)
Occupation	Actor, Comedian, Writer, Producer
Years active	2008—present
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Website	sunnytfilms.com

Personal life

Tripathy, was born in Brampton, Canada to an Indian-American father and mother.[1] Tripathy currently resides in Los Angeles, California and is fluent in English, French, Hindi and Oriya.[2][3] After high school, Tripathy attended UCLA for engineering and applied for the undergraduate film program but was rejected twice.[4][5] He graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.[6]

In 2005 Sunny was the victim of a hate crime on the day of his prom, where he was attacked by neo-Nazi gang members outside of Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, California. The attack on the 16-year-old, which was thought to be racially inclined, took place in broad daylight and left the Foothill High School student in the hospital with limited ability to walk.[3] Tripathy suffered a shattered clavicle, a damaged back, broken nose, a fractured arm and multiple bruises and cuts.

Career

Tripathy (#43) and Mindy Kaling (#3) named the Top 50 Coolest Desis in the World[7]

Tripathy won the 1st season of Last Teen Comic Standing at the age of 17 and performed stand-up specials in Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.[1][5]

In 2011, Tripathy's short film, Naked Innocence, won several awards. The short was also honored at Warner Bros. in June 2011.[2]

In 2012, he won the titles of Mr. Photogenic and Mr. India West Coast of the Miss India America Pageant. He went on to model for several brands including Mountain Dew, Adidas Collegiate, UCLA, HFDC Bank, Dreams Collection and BearWear.[1][7][8]

In fall 2012, Sunny produced a reality television pilot called The Grind featuring Sahil Punamia (Keeping Up With the Guptas), Michael Vayder, Shafic Tayara, pop-artist Vinita and Ron Artest (MettaWorld Peace) from the Los Angeles Lakers.[9] The show was never released to the public.[1][10]

In December 2012, Tripathy was named among the Top 50 Coolest Desis In The World, sharing the list with Mindy Kaling, Priyanka Chopra, and Malala Yousafzai.[7]

In July 2014 and at the age of 24, Tripathy sold his first pilot script and reached a development deal with 20th Century Fox Television,[11][12] to create a show based on him and his family.[4]

Charity work

Tripathy is an ambassador to The Hunger Project and is an active donor to the UCLA Ronald Reagan Children's Hospital. In November 2013, he hosted a birthday event to raise money and toys for the hospitals pediatric patients.[13][14][15]

Many of Tripathy's film projects often resonate themes of social justice issues. His project, Naked Innocence, was in response to several teen bullying and suicide cases in 2010. The Locket, was in tribute to the victims of the 2011 terrorist attack in Oslo, Norway.[1]

Sunny is involved with other non-profit organizations including Every 15 Minutes, Oriya Society of Americas, SEEDS, and the Sheila Kar Heart Foundation.[16]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Company	Notes
2009	Dance Flick	Club Victim	Paramount Pictures
2010	Naked Innocence	Writer / Director	SunnyTFilms
2010	Keeping Up With The Guptas	Writer / Director	SunnyTFilms
2011	The Locket	Writer / Director	SunnyTFilms
2011	Troublemaker	Sameer	Shetani Films
2012	Sunset Strip	Marketing Agent	SpeakEasy Films
2014	The Grind	Producer / Lead	SunnyTFilms
2014	5 Notes	Writer / Director	Visceral Entertainment	Filming
2014	Rajas of Rodeo	Lead	Lionsgate	In Development
2015	Untitled Sunny Tripathy Project	Writer / Supervising Producer	20th Century Fox Television	In Development
TBD	Mahabharat	Writer / Executive Producer	TBA	In Development

Awards and nominations

Award	Event	Year	Result
PCAC Young Artists Award	PCAC	2007	Won
Best Teen Comedian	Last Teen Comic Standing	2008	Won
Best Drama	Campus Movie Festival UCLA	2010	Won
AT&T Rethink Possible Award	Campus Movie Festival UCLA	2010	Won
People's Choice Award	Campus Movie Festival UCLA	2010	Won
Best Commercial	MoFilm Chevy Volt Competition	2011	Won
Best Drama	Action on Film Festival	2011	Nominated
Best Music Video	Action on Film Festival	2011	Nominated
Award of Merit	Accolade Festival	2011	Won
Mr. Photogenic	Mr. / Miss India America	2012	Won
Mr. India Global	Mr. / Miss India America	2012	Won

References

1. "It's Always Sunny T in California" - Urban Asian - http://urbanasian.com/whats-happenin/2012/10/its-always-sunny-t-in-california-a-mysterious-man-on-a-mysterious-mission/
2. "US-based Odia Director plans Mahabharata for Big Screen" - The Times of India
3. "Teen Attacked At Stoneridge Mall" – Pleasanton Weekly - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-03-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "USA-based Odisha Boy Sunny Tripathy signs TV Deal with 20th Century Fox for a comedy TV series – Orissa Diary – http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=51265
5. "Behind-the-scenes with young, handsome, and talented Sunny Tripathy!" - Urban Asian - http://urbanasian.com/interviews/2011/08/sunnytripathy/
6. Beals, Monique. "Excellence in Action-SUNNY TRIPATHY '12". PARTNERSHIP UCLA / ALUMNI CAREER PROGRAMS. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
7. "Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2012" - DesiClub - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2013-03-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "Foothill grad hopes to make it big with TV pilot - Pleasanton Weekly - http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2010/09/23/foothill-grad-hopes-to-make-it-big-with-tv-pilot
9. "Exclusive Interview with OMG Vinita" - UrbanAsian - http://urbanasian.com/interviews/2013/01/exclusive-interview-with-omg-vinita/
10. "Up Close With The ScriptWorm" – Sunday Post – "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2013-03-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. "'Keeping Up With the Guptas' creator makes deal with 20th Century Fox" – Daily Bruin – http://dailybruin.com/2014/06/30/keeping-up-with-the-guptas-creator-makes-deal-with-20th-century-fox/
12. "'Keeping Up with the Guptas' May Come to FOX" – India West – http://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/global/keeping-up-with-the-guptas-may-come-to-fox/article_8b25420e-0dd9-11e4-bf1d-001a4bcf887a.html/
13. "Sunny hosts birthday bash with children at US hospital" - Orissa Post - http://www.orissapost.com/epaper/081113/p2.htm
14. "Keeping Up With The Guptas" creator hosts birthday charity! - Urban Asian - http://urbanasian.com/events-gigs/2013/11/keeping-up-with-the-guptas-creator-hosts-birthday-charity/
15. "Mr. India Sunny Tripathy Hosts Charity Event" - India West - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2013-12-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
16. "Celebrities Attend Physician's Wedding" – India West – http://www.indiawest.com/news/6591-celebrities-attend-physicians-wedding-anniversary.html

Further reading

• Sunny Tripathy on IMDb