Ravi Patel (actor)

Early life and career

Patel was born in Freeport, Illinois, the son of financial consultant father Vasant Patel and real estate agent mother Champa Patel. He spent most of his youth in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 with double majors in Economics and International Studies. His sister, Geeta Patel, is a writer and director. An investment banker after college, Patel co-founded poker magazine All In while living in LA.

Television and film

An emcee job, with improvised stand-up in between acts, led to auditions, his first agent, and two dozen commercials in a year. Patel has been in over 70 national commercials, films and TV shows, most notably Transformers, Scrubs, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Comedians, and Hawaii Five-O.

In 2008-09, Patel appeared as George Patil in six episodes on The CW's Easy Money. In 2010, he starred in Past Life on Fox.

Patel co-directed and starred in Meet the Patels, a documentary that he made with his sister, Geeta Patel, that won the audience award at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival. The film portrays Patel's autobiographical journey of trying to find an Indian wife. The duo have a deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures to write and direct a narrative remake of the film.

In 2015, Patel worked in one episode of the Aziz Ansari series, Master of None. From 2015 to 2016, Patel was on the John Stamos TV series, Grandfathered.

Other

Patel is the co-founder of This Bar Saves Lives, which donates a meal packet for every granola bar they sell. He is also an active investor in start-ups in health and wellness.