The Office US star Mindy Kaling says her real-life parents were cast on the show because the auditionees were "too stilted"
The Office US' 'Diwali' episode is said to be one of the first American comedies to feature the Indian holiday and has been credited with introducing the customs to a wider audience (as well as bringing us Michael Scott's infamous 'Diwali' song).
It's also famous for being the episode that introduced Kelly Kapoor's mum and dad, who were played by Mindy Kaling's actual real-life parents.
The actress has been reflecting on the episode on the Office Girls podcast, talking about how showrunner Greg Daniels had auditioned other actors to take on the roles, but they just didn't work out.
Related: The Office star reveals who took Pam's teapot home
Speaking to her former co-stars Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer, Kaling said: "We only cast my parents in it, which just seems like a complete act of nepotism and favouritism, because we had auditioned the parts and Greg felt that the actors we found in that age group were either too theatrical for the style of acting on our show or too stilted because they had no acting experience.
Related: Mindy Kaling speaks on the Emmys discrediting her work
"Now, I’m the first to say that my parents’ acting was also very stilted. But [Greg] was like, 'At least they bear some familial resemblance to you. So we’ll put them in there.'"
Although Kaling might have been embarrassed about having her actual folks on set, we'd say it definitely worked out for the best.
Related: Jim and Pam's wedding on The Office US nearly involved a dead horse
She also said that real-life influenced the plot further with Kelly's lack of actual Diwali knowledge, which reflected the fact that Kaling herself didn't actually know that much about it.
In other The Office US news, it was recently announced that an episode of the show has been edited for syndication and streaming due to the use of blackface, following a wave of studios removing episodes and shows because of their depictions of people of colour.
The Office US is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.
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