VIDHYA IYER

BIO

[ Restauranteur ] [Engineer] [ Third Culture Latchkey Kid ][Definitely lactose tolerant ]

Vidhya was born and raised in Nigeria. The child of Indian parents, at the age of 12, she was sent to India where she lived alone in an apartment with no adult supervision. With no one to stop her from living her best life, Vidhya did the one thing she knew she could never do with her parents around - she watched a FUCK TON of TV (well, a fuck ton MORE TV than she already did) - shows like Friends, Malcolm in the Middle and That 70s Show. Eventually, Vidhya went to college in India where she majored in Computer Engineering and managed a franchise of an Italian restaurant, both whilst continuing to watch every TV show from Scrubs to Sherlock. She then made the natural transition into screenwriting.

Vidhya was part of  Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's inaugural Imagine Impact Incubator and her comedy TV series ‘Wedlocked’ is in development with Imagine Entertainment. She is a staff writer on Season 2 of the Disney show – Mira: Royal Detective and is a creative consultant on the upcoming JJ Abrams Apple TV show Starling with Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson.

Vidhya is a graduate of the American Film Institute with an MFA in Screenwriting. This wasn’t an easy feat as her parents wanted her to get an arranged marriage instead of “script-writing”.  So, she spent her first year at AFI swiping left (it was like Tinder, but only for Indian engineers in the bay area) on potential husbands her mum until she was given an ultimatum – get married or drop out of AFI.  In the plot twist season finale of the sitcom that is her life, Vidhya was awarded the prestigious Alfred P Sloan Foundation scholarship that saved her from an arranged marriage and helped her finish AFI. Upon graduation, Vidhya was selected to the CAPE New Writers Fellowship. Later that year, her pilot was in the Top 10 TV Pilots of 2018 by the Tracking Board Launchpad. 

Vidhya spends her free time doing improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in LA and explaining to strangers that the Tesla she would like to lease is actually "not that expensive". 

One of the bigger achievements of her life this year is that she doesn't throw up as much as she used to. 

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