2017 Women of the Year: Mindy Kaling's Grand Finale, Baby Surprise, and Activism

Oh, Mindy Kaling; you majestic minx.

Mindy had a fabulous year. Her show The Mindy Project went out with a bang, she has numerous new TV shows in the works, a new movie alongside Rihanna (!!) and another with Oprah, and a bun in the oven!

So for our second “Year in Review”, we’re going to take a stroll down memory lane with Ms. Kaling and everything she’s accomplished. Missed our first “Year in Review” post on Selena Gomez? Check it out here.

Saying Goodbye to The Mindy Project

After six wonderful seasons, The Mindy Project finally came to an end. And although I’ll miss Dr. Lahiri more than anything (and will be watching reruns for the end of time), the cast did a great job of saying goodbye to the show and the characters while bringing the series full circle.

It’s Not a Food Baby

While TMP ends, a new chapter begins for Mindy IRL: a little baby Mindy! Mindy was pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing… until Oprah spilled the beans. Mindy later said,

“If anyone is going to announce big news about your private life, Oprah Winfrey is the person. You can’t complain that much about it. And you also can’t be like, ‘Hey, Oprah, zip it’.'”

Congrats, Mindy! Can’t wait to meet your baby girl.

mindy kaling a wrinkle in time

Hitting the Big Screen

Speaking of Oprah… the two are now costars! Mindy will star as Mrs. Who in A Wrinkle in Time. She’s also been filming another film: Ocean’s 8. The film is set to be pretty star-studded with Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sandra Bullock on the cast list.

Sooooo Many New Projects in the Works

Mindy is officially working on at least three shows. Her first show, The Champions, has already been picked up for the first season. Mindy will mostly act as a producer, but will occasionally guest star alongside Workaholics and TMP alum Anders Holm. Um, yes please!

Show #2 will be an adaptation of Alyssa Mastromonaco’s memoir. In case you missed the memo, Mastromonaco was President Obama’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and is also an all-around awesome lady (you can sometimes hear her guest star on the podcast Pod Save America).

As for show #3, Mindy is teaming up with TMP costar Ed Weeks for a series about a lesbian couple stuck in middle America. ABC has made a script commitment so far and Mindy will executive producer and star in the series.

Always the Activist

Mindy has always been an outspoken activist. Both on and off screen, the actress has taken on race and gender issues. Most memorable was her episode called Mindy Kaling is a White Man in which she imagined how different her life would be if she had male privilege. And more recently she took on the Weinstein sexual assault accusations and defended the victims on Twitter.

Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next year, Mindy!

Photo: Mindy Kaling / Instagram

Lena Finkel
Lena Finkel is the Editor and Founder of Femestella and The Feminist Health Source. Prior to starting Femestella, she worked at People, InStyle, Tiger Beat, and Sesame Workshop (aka Sesame Street). She loves all things Real Housewives and The Challenge. When she's not busy binge-watching TV, you can find her taking an absurd amount of photos of her tuxedo cat Tom.