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In the last few years we have started UrbanAsian.com we covered him and we also interviewed him. Now he is taking it to the big screens and launching a comedy series! Mr. India Global and Keeping up with the Guptas creator Sunny Tripathy has just signed a development deal with 20th Century Fox for a comedy TV series based on his personal life and family. The success of the show will depend on whether or not a network will buy the series.
At the age of 17 and as a freshman at UCLA, Tripathy won Last Teen Comic Standing and in between engineering classes, performed stand-up specials in Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
While in school and finishing a major in Political Science / Media Entrepreneurship, Tripathy was also a Bear Wear Model for UCLA. Seeking a point of entry into the entertainment industry, Tripathy competed in an international pageant in which he won the titles of Mr. Photogenic and Mr. India Global. He later became a model for several brands including Adidas Collegiate and Mountain Dew. In 2014 he was once again named India’s sex symbol by South Asia Magazine.
He also became recognized for his successful web series Keeping up with the Guptas, which starred his family and himself as sensationalized versions of themselves. Tripathy, who then met with Mindy Kaling (of The Mindy Project) multiple times, claims that her advice inspired him to keep trying despite what he considered “getting nowhere.”
In 2013, Tripathy won CAPE’s TV Pitch Contest at CBS and a few months following, Tripathy finally found himself in a room with an SVP and VP of FOX, where stories of his childhood and family, got them excited to do a TV series based on his family. Among the many things that got them interested was a family Christmas photo where Sunny and his sister were dressed as the parents and the parents were dressed as the kids.
The deal was made official via FOX’s Business Affairs who finalized the terms with Tripathy’s agents.
Development for Tripathy’s show has already begun. A title for the show is yet to be determined and details are being kept confidential, but at 24 years old, Tripathy is among the youngest screenwriters in the world to when a reporter for The Daily Bruin asked Tripathy about how much he would get paid for the show, Tripathy said,
“Pay has been discussed if the show is picked up for series, which is usually per episode per week, and there’s also development money until then. But to be honest, I don’t care about the pay. In fact, I don’t even know if I looked at the numbers. My main priority is to make this show a huge success for everyone. And it’s really as easy and difficult as just that.”
20th Century FOX produces such shows such as: Modern Family, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother and the hit series 24. The executive overseeing the deal with Tripathy is also credited with having shepherd FOX’s hit show New Girl.
In June of 2014, Tripathy was also cast as the lead of the upcoming reality show Rajas of Rodeo, produced by Interior Day and Lions gate. The show follows Sunny Tripathy and other celebrities including Miss USA Rima Fakih.
Tripathy finds fulfillment in philanthropy and often uses his endeavors to raise money for the UN World Food Programme and The Hunger Project. Some of his work has risen upwards of $100,000 in charitable donations. He has also been involved in other non-profits including Every Fifteen Minutes and the Oriya Society of Americas.
In October of 2013, Tripathy donated more than a 100 toys and wrapped gifts to cancer patients at the UCLA Children’s Hospital as way of celebrating his 24th birthday.
Looks like we need to keep an eye on this rising star!
