How Mindy Kaling Responded to Being Mistaken for Malala Yousafzai

By Luchina Fisher October 27, 2014

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Though she now stars in her own successful series, "The Mindy Project," Mindy Kaling still seems surprised by her own celebrity.

So when she was mistaken for someone else recently, the comedian was far from offended.

According to a New York Times profile, Kaling was at NYC's Boom Boom Room for The New Yorker Festival's V.I.P. after-party when an older man showered her with compliments.

"Congratulations on your Nobel Prize," he said, expressing wonder at how well she had recovered from Taliban gunshots.

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It seemed the man mistook the 35-year-old Massachusetts native of Indian descent for the 17-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who recently became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"Did he really think I'm Malala?" Kaling asked when the man was out of earshot. "And that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?"

Amused, Kaling said, "That's the best thing that's happened all night."

Later, she tweeted, "Honored to have been mistaken for @MalalaFund! (yes, a little bit because she is 17).