When TDI sat down with Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers in January 2005, they were starring in their critically-acclaimed play, Matt and Ben, and were starting work on their first sitcom, Mindy and Brenda. A few months later, Mindy became "Kelly from The Office." This is a snapshot of an actress on the cusp of stardom.
(Originally published in January 2005)

Just recently, former Dartmouth undergraduates Mindy Kaling '01 and Brenda Withers '00 graced Moore Theatre with a performance of Matt and Ben, their critically-acclaimed one-act play that satirizes Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's creation of Goodwill Hunting. TDI got a chance to interview the show-stoppers about their life in New York City, Dartmouth, and the production of their soon to be released sitcom, Mindy and Brenda.

TDI: How is living in New York?

Mindy: Wonderful. I would love to live there for the rest of my life. Brenda, in fact, is from Long Island, and she especially loves it.

TDI: What was it like for the first couple years?

Mindy: Horrible. 

TDI: Horrible?

Mindy: Well, not horrible. It's just...you don't know the city, and it seems too big, and when you come out of Dartmouth where you get to do so much outside, and it's so beautiful, and you can't go anywhere without seeing trees, New York seems so impersonal. And, when you do shows there, you don't do them in beautiful theatres like the Moore; you do them in, literally, closets of people's apartments, or restored warehouses that aren't professionally lit. It's hard; you get really spoiled here.

TDI: Was it scary the first couple years? 

Mindy: Oh, it was terrifying. Mostly because of all the other kids, from all the other Ivy League schools, who come to the city to make it really big. And you feel powerful with your Drama clique at Dartmouth, and then you realize there's even bigger and more powerful cliques from Yale, and Columbia, and Wellesley, and Northwestern, and Penn, then weird places like North Carolina Chapel Hill—or NYU kids who've lived there for six years already. But it was lucky 'cause I had Brenda, who'd already lived there for a year.

TDI: How long did it take to write Matt and Ben?

Mindy: From the first time we put pen to paper, about six months. We kept taking these breaks, or Brenda would get a job acting in Texas—she went to the Texas Shakespeare festival.

TDI: Did you feel there was a rush, because they're in a sense tabloid stars?

Mindy: No, there was no rush, 'cause at that point all that had happened was Ben had gone into rehab.

*Brenda comes crashing through the door*

Brenda: I love interviews. I [always] say that wrong thing.

Mindy: Don't say anything anti-Semitic.

TDI: If there was one thing you hated about Dartmouth, while you were here, what was it?

Brenda: That I hated?

TDI: Yeah sure.

Brenda: That I had to leave. 

TDI: Oh, ok.

Brenda: Seriously, I know it sounds lame, but I did not want to leave. Of course everyone else was thinking "Get me out of here."

Mindy: 10A's. I hated 10A's.

Brenda: Oh, and Mindy. I hated Mindy.

TDI: Was it scary when someone famous was in the audience, like Nicole Kidman?

Brenda: I think it was scary, only when you could see them. Cause they would try not to tell us, a lot of them. But then, the theater was real small, only like 90 people, so you could see their faces. 

Mindy: 'Cause Nicole Kidman is like 6'3.

Brenda: And Steve Martin is like a shock of white hair. For the most part, celebrities are extremely generous. They're always the laughers, 'cause they're like, "We have to put a good face on for the world." And it was so nice of them, 'cause then everyone else would think, "Oh, Nicole Kidman likes it? Ok, haha. Me too."

TDI: Brenda, you had your nose broken in a performance. 

Brenda: I did. Guess by who? My own best friend. 

TDI: That's hardcore, that you still went on with the show. 

Brenda: We had to. Our director came back and yelled at us. We walked offstage, very composed, and then we started wailing like little girls. Everyone was like "Aahhh!" and Mindy was like, "Call 911!" And, after that, our director came back and he was like, "Change your shirt, finish the show." Actually, we could not have asked for better publicity. 

Mindy: That's because Bruce Weber from the New York Times Review was there. 

Brenda: Yeah, and how can you really write a better review of a show where half the cast goes on with a broken nose?

TDI: Was it difficult? Was the adrenaline pumping? 

Brenda: I don't really remember. I feel bad for the audience, cause they probably don't know what happened at the end of the play. They were like, "What? I don't remember the end of the play. That girl was talking, and every time she talked, it was so nasal, and blood would come out of her nose." Yeah, so they should get a refund...(To Mindy) From your half of the royalties...

TDI: Was Hollywood anything like you anticipated?

Mindy: It was everything that anyone had ever told me, but I never believed them.

TDI: How so?

Mindy: Well...I was about to say that everyone in Hollywood is good-looking. But the truth is that not everyone in Hollywood is good-looking. Everyone in Hollywood is skinny. Like skinnier and tinier and shorter. Everyone is blonde. Everyone is size 0. 

TDI: Do you know yet whether you'll star in the show [Mindy and Brenda].

Brenda: It's still undecided.

Mindy: Steve Martin [the executive producer] keeps saying, "They have to be in it. They have to be in it." But then he's always coming and going, because he has to promote the Pink Panther movie.

Brenda: They're experimenting with the casting still. They brought in this tall, blond girl, and so I thought, "Oh, they're going with 'Pretty Brenda.'" But then they said she was reading for Mindy, and I was like, "But Mindy's Indian. That's crazy."