Mindy Kaling made her big-screen debut in the 2005 American romantic comedy film ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ directed by Judd Apatow. The film garnered praise from critics and was a massive commercial success, grossing over $177.4 million on a budget of $26 million. That same year, she also joined the main cast of the American mockumentary sitcom television series ‘The Office.’ She was also one of the writers of the series which earned her the ‘Writers Guild of America Award.’ The series ran for 9 seasons and aired its final episode in 2013. In 2006, she appeared in the Christmas comedy film ‘Unaccompanied Minors’ directed by Paul Feig. The film opened to a mixed reception and was a box office failure. The following year, she starred as ‘Shelly’ in the Ken Kwapis-directed American romantic comedy film, ‘License to Wed.’ Despite being panned by critics, the film did decent business at the box office and managed to gross over $70.2 million on a $35 million budget. She next appeared in films like ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ (2009), ‘Despicable Me’ (2010), ‘No Strings Attached’ (2011), ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ (2012), and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ (2012).
In 2012, she created the romantic comedy television series ‘The Mindy Project’ where she also starred as ‘Dr. Mindy Kuhel Lahiri / Dr. L.’ The series aired 117 episodes before going off-air in 2017. She made a cameo appearance in the 2013 American apocalyptic comedy film ‘This Is the End’ directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film received a positive response from critics and grossed over $126 million on a budget of $32–41.9 million. She next appeared in the films like ‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’ (2014), ‘Inside Out’ (2015), ‘The Night Before’ (2015), ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ (2018), ‘Ocean's 8’ (2018), and ‘Late Night’ (2019). In 2020, she came together with Lang Fisher to create the American coming-of-age comedy-drama television series ‘Never Have I Ever.’ The series was renewed for a fourth season in March 2022. In 2021, Kaling and Justin Noble created the American teen comedy-drama streaming television series ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls.’ The series completed its first season in December 2021 and in the same month, it was renewed for a second season. Kaling was last seen in the 2021 American romantic comedy heist film ‘Locked Down’ directed by Doug Liman. The film received a mixed response from critics.