Ajay Naidu

Acting

Ajay Naidu

Born 1972-02-12 · Evanston, Illinois, USA

Ajay Kalahastri Naidu (born 12 February 1972) is an American actor. Naidu was born in Evanston, Illinois and raised in Chicago, the son of Indian immigrants from Chittor District, Andhra Pradesh to the U.S. He attended Evanston Township High School. As an actor, he trained with the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. His first professional acting job was the film Touch and Go (released in 1986) which he won from an open call, this in turn led to television jobs.He starred in the TV-movie, Lady Blue (1985) as "Paquito". This was followed by an ABC Afterschool Special episode, "No Greater Gift" (1985), where he played "Nick Santana", a 12-year old boy with a terminal illness. He then appeared in an uncredited role as "Ahmed" in the "MacGyver" TV series, during the first season, in episode, "To Be a Man" in 1986. Other film credits when younger include Where the River Runs Black (1986) and Vice Versa (1988). Between 1988 and 1995 he worked extensively in classical theatre. He returned to film acting in SubUrbia (1996), where he was praised for his role as the convenience store owner, "Nazeer Choudhury" and for which he was nominated for an independent spirit award for best supporting actor. On screen, Naidu has appeared in the film Office Space, as well as K-Pax, π, Requiem for a Dream, Bad Santa, The War Within, American Chai, The Guru, Waterborne and Loins of Punjab Presents and many more. He co-starred in the sitcom LateLine and had guest starring roles on the television dramas The Sopranos, in the episode entitled Big Girls Don't Cry, as well as The West Wing. In 1997, Naidu was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his role in the independent film subUrbia. Naidu has been working extensively with musicians from the Asian underground music movement for many years and his vocals have appeared on many records most notably Talvin Singh's mercury award winner "OK". In 2006 he directed his first feature film Ashes which came out in 2010. His most recent Theatre credits include A world tour of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with Simon McBurney's Theatre Complicite, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui alongside Al Pacino, and The Little Flower of East Orange at New York's Public Theater. He is currently engaged to actress Heather Burns.

Acting credits

Scary Movie 3 poster
6.0

News anchorwoman Cindy Campbell has to investigate mysterious crop circles and killing video tapes, and help the President stop an alien invasion in the process.

Scary Movie 3

2003

The Wrestler poster
7.5

Aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is long past his prime but still ready and rarin' to go on the pro-wrestling circuit. After a particularly brutal beating, however, Randy hangs up his tights, pursues a serious relationship with a long-in-the-tooth stripper, and tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. But he can't resist the lure of the ring and readies himself for a comeback.

The Wrestler

2008

Office Space poster
7.4

A depressed white-collar worker tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers.

Office Space

1999

Bad Santa poster
6.6

You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.

Bad Santa

2003

Requiem for a Dream poster
8.0

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Requiem for a Dream

2000

K-PAX poster
7.2

Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

K-PAX

2001

Righteous Kill poster
5.9

Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

Righteous Kill

2008

The Accidental Husband poster
5.6

Emma, a radio host, is about to be married to Richard, her perfect match. But right before her wedding, she learns she's already married to Patrick, a charming but irresponsible fireman. Furthermore, Patrick has a secret: he has arranged this little trick because Emma advised Patrick's ex-fiancée to end their relationship. However, Patrick may find that the trick is on him, for he soon begins to fall in love with his uptight adversary.

The Accidental Husband

2008

Pi poster
7.1

A mathematical genius discovers a link between numbers and reality, and thus believes he can predict the future.

Pi

1998

Hotel for Dogs poster
6.1

Placed in a foster home that doesn't allow pets, 16-year-old Andi and her younger brother, Bruce, turn an abandoned hotel into a home for their dog. Soon other strays arrive, and the hotel becomes a haven for every orphaned canine in town. But the kids have to do some quick thinking to keep the cops off their tails.

Hotel for Dogs

2009

The Good Nurse poster
6.9

Suspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth.

The Good Nurse

2022

Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? poster
7.4

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang become involved in a supernatural mystery in Egypt.

Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?

2005

Falling Up poster
5.2

A nursing student forced to quit school for family reasons winds up taking a job as a doorman in an elite apartment building in New York City, where he sparks to one of his residents.

Falling Up

2009

Vice Versa poster
5.8

A mysterious oriental skull transforms a father into his son, and vice versa.

Vice Versa

1988

The Kindergarten Teacher poster
6.5

Lisa Spinelli is a Staten Island teacher who is unusually devoted to her students. When she discovers one of her five-year-olds is a prodigy, she becomes fascinated with the boy, ultimately risking her family and freedom to nurture his talent.

The Kindergarten Teacher

2018

Dinner Rush poster
7.0

One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting characters. In addition to having to please a whiny food critic, Louis must fend off a hostile takeover from a pair of gangsters, to whom his sous-chef is in debt. Further, Louis has an argument with his son, the star chef, whose culinary creativity has brought success to the business.

Dinner Rush

2000

The Guru poster
5.3

Bored with Bollywood movies but fascinated with their Hollywood counterparts from his youth, Ram dreams to become a singer and actor in America, the country where dreams are made. He is encouraged when his American-based close friend, Vijay Rao, comes for visit, and brags about driving a Mercedes and living in a penthouse.

The Guru

2002

American Chai poster
10.0

Sureel is a young first-generation Indian American. All he wants is to be like his American friends, but his strict immigrant parents keep a tight rein on his life. Will he realize his dream of performing rock-and-roll music?

American Chai

2001

Brenda poster
NR

In 1994 New Orleans (right before the internet), two married weed dealers face a dilemma when their five-year-old son overhears their code name for marijuana and tries to solve the mystery of his parents’ imaginary friend. The movie shares a name with the code word: BRENDA.

Brenda

2026

Hannibal poster
6.8

After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.

Hannibal

2001

More Dogs Than Bones poster
4.9

A series of mishaps and misfortunes over $1 million in cash leads to murder, mayhem and greed.

More Dogs Than Bones

2000

The Honeymooners poster
4.0

Working class New York bus driver Ralph Kramden is always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes for him and his best friend, Ed Norton, who's always around to help him get in (and out of) trouble.

The Honeymooners

2005

Perception poster
9.0

When Jen Marshall, an LA girl with a reckless personality and a laundry list of burned bridges, returns to New York and unexpected tragedy strikes, it is up to her mistreated friends to decide between helping her through this tough time or abandoning her - like she did them.

Perception

2005

SubUrbia poster
6.2

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.

SubUrbia

1997

Behind the camera