‘So Close’ Casts Punam Patel; Shoniqua Shandai Joins ‘The Greatest American Hero’
February 16, 2018
‘So Close’ Casts Punam Patel; Shoniqua Shandai Joins ‘The Greatest American Hero’
Punam Patel (Kevin From Work) has landed a series regular role in NBC comedy pilot So Close, from Hazy Mills. Written by Friends and Will & Grace alum Greg Malins, So Close centers on hopeless romantics Riley & Kyle. At a crossroads in their separate lives, they are close to settling for the wrong partner, unaware that they live only blocks apart and may be each other’s soul mates. Malins, Hayes and Milliner executive produce. Patel will play Dhara. Her strict parents always push their traditional Indian values on her. She’s torn because she loves her parents and her culture but wants to live in the real world as well. Patel, who was a series regular on Kevin From Work, most recently recurred on Adam Ruins Everything.
Shoniqua Shandai has been tapped for a series regular role in ABC’s single-camera comedy pilot The Greatest American Hero, from the Fresh Off the Boat duo of Rachna Fruchbom and Nahnatchka Khan. Written by Fruchbom, The Greatest American Hero reboot centers around Meera (Simone), a 30-year-old woman who loves tequila and karaoke and has spent her life searching and failing to find meaning, much to the chagrin of her traditional Indian-American family. An inexplicable event occurs that will change the course of Meera’s life forever: she is entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet. Meera may have finally found purpose, but the world has never been in more unreliable hands. Shandai will play Tawnia Nichols, the office manager and office gossip at the marketing agency where Meera works. Shandai can most recently be seen in Joseph Kahn’s feature Bodied, which was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and the Audience Award at AFI Fest, both in 2017. She’ll next be seen recurring in TV Land’s Nobodies and in Patty Jenkins’ miniseries One Day She’ll Darken at TNT. She’s repped by Innovative Artists and Luber Roklin Entertainment.