Born to an Iranian mother and Indian father, Omid Singh is one of the top multicultural comics working today. Not that he considers himself a public symbol or boundary-breaker. As he puts it onstage, “I don’t do anything scary when I go to the airport…but I do like to see how far I can walk away from my luggage.”

Singh spent his developmental years in New York City. There he studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade, performed on 2011’s New York Comedy Festival, and was featured in Ben Affleck’s 2012 thriller Argo. Fun fact: In a scene depicting Iranians rushing the American Embassy, extras aren’t wielding U.S. baseball bats thanks to his outspoken fact-checking. 2013 short film Subway, based on his material about a post-workout commute gone awry, was voted the Audience Award winner at the annual No Budget Film Festival.

Between touring clubs and colleges across the country, every April Singh curates the Comedy Stage at Broke L.A.’s indie-arts weekend. Creating opportunities for others to perform is a responsibility he takes seriously: He’s even run an open mic in his family’s downtown clothing shop. As the favorite road opener of Maz Jobrani, Singh credits the Iranian-American trailblazer for imprinting his beliefs in hard work, uncompromising values, and conveying a genuine sense of self. For Singh, being a member of the comedy community means belonging to an extended family, but also serving as a force for positive change in society at large. It’s all about striving to give his best performance possible – both onstage and off.

“Omid is an absolute beast on stage… always bringing fire in his deliberate delivery.” Comedy Central