Maulik Pancholy, the actor best known for his recurring role in the critically-acclaimed, Emmy award-winning comedy 30 Rock, where he stars as Alec Baldwin’s office assistant, told a recent crowd of about 200 at Scripps College that they could eradicate negative stereotypes.
“You’re the third-ranked women’s college in the country. You’re smart,” said Pancholy, who lectured on “Diversity on Screen” March 22 at Garrison Theater, Performing Arts Center. “I was intimidated by your questions.”
Pancholy, one of Hollywood’s most distinctive and versatile performers, visited Scripps College as part of the Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series, “Voice and Vision.”
He looked forward to his first visit to The Claremont Colleges. He told the crowd, which mostly was made up of college students, he wanted to show them short video clips of the stereotypical roles he has had to play throughout his acting career so that the students would be motivated to stop such offensive caricatures.
“Whether you become engineers, doctors, lawyers or advertisers, I hope that what I have shared with you today will make you think about your own stories,” Pancholy said. “A lot people from different ethnicities struggle with the way they’re portrayed.”
Through his video clips, Pancholy showed the audience that the characters he has played as an actor have developed in their nuances and complexities beginning with a character he played that always wore a turban and ending with his roles on Whitney, Weeds, and 30 Rock. He partly attributed those changes to his young audience, by pointing out that they would not tolerate TV shows that pander to offensive ethnic jokes.
“You don’t want to see ugly stereotypes. You wouldn’t watch those shows,” Pancholy said. “We’re more global as a society, and there are more people of color working in the industry.”
Pancholy, an Indian American actor, has appeared in such films as 27 Dresses, Friends with Money, and Hitch.
The Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series was established through the generous bequest of Scripps College alumna Alexa Fullerton Hampton ’42 and sponsored Pancholy’s visit. The series brings a broad range of renowned presenters and artists to Scripps College each year to share their unique voice and vision, as well as to enlighten and inspire the audience — exposing them to new ideas and perspectives.
