Mindy
Kaling, left, received a 2021 National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden,
right, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday.
On a day
when she received a big honor, Mindy Kaling paid tribute to someone who helped her
get there.
The actress
and producer was on Tuesday awarded with a 2021 National Medal of the Arts by
president Joe Biden at the White House, and in an Instagram post reflecting on
the big moment, she shared a moving message about her late mother Swati
Chokalingam.
“I wish my
mom could have been there, but what are you gonna do,” Kaling said in a post
on her verified Instagram page, “Nothing is perfect, but yesterday was
pretty close.”
Kaling added
that she was moved to hear Biden “speak about my parents, their journey to the
United States, and my late mother’s dreams for me, and the power of comedy to
make people understand each other,” adding that it “was almost too much to take
in.”
Kaling, who
started her on-screen career in “The Office” and went on to star and create
“The Mindy Project” on Hulu, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts after her
parents immigrated to the US from India before she was born. Her mother died in 2012 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA) medals are the highest awards given to artists and
arts patrons by the federal government. The NEA and president Biden honored
Kaling for her work “across television, film, and books inspires and
delights—capturing and uplifting the experiences of women and girls across our
Nation,” according to a press release.
Gladys
Knight, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Bruce Springsteen and designer Vera Wang, among
others, were also honored on Tuesday.
Kaling
added, “I promise to spend the rest of my life earning this medal because I
don’t feel like I’ve earned it yet.”
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