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Anoop Desai was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, with family roots in Gujarat, India and South Africa. His family moved to Chapel Hill, NC where he excelled in theater, improvisation, choir, and as an All-State trumpet player. As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina concentrating in American Studies and Political Science, Desai became somewhat of a campus celebrity for his visibility as a soloist in the a cappella singing group the Clef Hangers. After graduating with honors, he auditioned for American Idol and finished in the Top 6 of that show in 2009.
In 2011, Desai began exclusively releasing and writing pop music under the pseudonym TOTEM, so named as an homage to his short stint as a graduate student in cultural anthropology at UNC. He guest starred and sang on numerous TV talk shows and variety shows and performed in venues of all sizes, from small clubs, to Lollapalooza, to big arenas. Music he has written and/or performed has generated over 50 million streams on Spotify.
Desai began studying acting with Lisa Pelikan at HB Studios, Matt Newton at MN Studio, and Tim Phillips after moving to New York City in 2017.
In 2018, Desai was offered a role in the Broadway developmental Lab of The Secret Garden directed by Warren Carlyle. Desai was also a principal performer in Songs of Drew Gasparini at Feinstein's/54 Below. He made his Off-Broadway debut in MCC Theater's 2019 world premiere musical The Wrong Man, directed by Thomas Kail. As a member of the ensemble, he was the winner of the 2021 Chita Rivera Award.
Desai's first on-screen role was in the 2020 pilot of the Apple TV+ series Little Voice created by Sara Bereilles. He also had a guest starring role in the Showtime series Billions. In 2021, he played a recurring role opposite Natasha Lyonne in the Netflix dark comedy, Russian Doll and appeared in a guest starring role in the hit CBS series, Evil. In 2022 and 2023, Desai played a major recurring role, 'Djinn' in season 4 and 5 of the FX comedy series, What We Do In The Shadows, where many of his scenes included improvisation. Desai was praised as "a standout" for his role as Raj in the Hulu limited series Under the Bridge (2024) along with Lily Gladstone, Riley Keough, and Archie Panjabi.
Desai made his feature film debut in a supporting role in The Adults (2023) opposite Michael Cera. In 2024, Desai filmed a supporting role in the A24 film Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman.
Anoop was married in 2019 to Anna Desai. They live in Brooklyn, New York.
