Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar is an actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken Lizard films Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest and Super Troopers 2. Since 2001, he has also worked frequently as a television director on many episodes of Community and The Goldbergs, among dozens of comedy series. He has also occasionally worked as a film director outside of Broken Lizard projects, most notably on the 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard.

Early life and education

Chandrasekhar was born at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. His parents are physicians of Tamil origin originally from Chennai, India. Chandrasekhar grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois, and attended high school at the Lake Forest Academy. After attending Loyola University for a semester, he graduated from Colgate University with a major in European history and a minor in philosophy. The film made it into the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. Then in 2001, they made Super Troopers as an independent movie, which Harvey Weinstein helped to develop at Miramax Films, but did not end up distributing.

Directing

In 2005, Chandrasekhar directed The Dukes of Hazzard. The action comedy film based on the 1970s American television series of the same name was the debut of pop singer Jessica Simpson as an actress. While financially successful, the film was met with negative reviews from critics. He has become an established television comedy director, directing episodes of Undeclared, Happy Endings, Chuck, Community, Psych, New Girl, and Arrested Development. He directed several episodes of Blue Mountain State. Amazon released a pilot in the 2014 Amazon Original Series that he wrote and directed called Really.

Between 2014 and 2018, he directed 16 episodes of The Goldbergs.

In June 2018, the filmmaker revealed that he is in discussions with Marvel Studios to direct one of their upcoming movies.

In February 2021, Chandrasekhar was announced as the director of the family comedy Easter Sunday, starring Jo Koy.

Acting

Chandrasekhar guest starred alongside his cousin Sendhil Ramamurthy in a 2009 episode of Psych, which Chandrasekhar also directed. He appeared as the cab driver in the "Terror Taxi" skit from Jackass: Number Two. He appeared as racist comedian Gupta Gupti Gupta in the episode "Basic Email Security" of Community, which Chandrasekhar also directed.

Stand-up

Chandrasekhar often does stand-up comedy, sometimes touring with fellow Broken Lizard friends, Steve Lemme and Kevin Heffernan.

Personal life

Chandrasekhar has been married to actress Susan Clarke since 2005. They have twin daughters and a son. Chandrasekhar's middle name, Jambulingam, is in honor of his grandfather, and is also his son's middle name. His mother-in-law is Mary Pat Clarke, the first woman to serve as president of the Baltimore City Council.

Filmography

Films

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! rowspan="2" | Year

! rowspan="2" | Title

! colspan="2" | Credited as

! rowspan="2" | Notes

|-

! Director

! Writer

|-

| 1996

| Puddle Cruiser

|

|

|

|-

| 2002

| Super Troopers

|

|

|

|-

| 2004

| Club Dread

|

|

|

|-

| 2005

| The Dukes of Hazzard

|

|

|

|-

| 2006

| Beerfest

|

|

|

|-

| 2009

| The Slammin' Salmon|| ||

|

|-

|rowspan="2"| 2010

| Held Up

|

|

|

|-

| Broken Lizard Stands Up

|

|

|

|-

| 2012

| The Babymakers

|

|

| Also co-producer

|-

| 2018

| Super Troopers 2

|

|

|

|-

| 2022

| Easter Sunday

|

|

|

|-

| 2023

| Quasi

|

|

|

|-

| 2026

| Super Troopers 3

|

|

| Post-production

|}

Acting roles

{|class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

|-

| 1996

| Puddle Cruiser

| Zach

|-

| 2002

| Super Troopers

| Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn

|-

| 2004

| Club Dread

| Putman Livingston

|-

| 2005

| The Dukes of Hazzard

| Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn

|-

|rowspan=2| 2006

| Beerfest

| Barry Badrinath/Blind Sikh

|-

| Jackass Number Two

| Himself/Terror Taxi host

|-

|rowspan=3| 2009

| I Love You, Man

| Party Guest

|-

| The Slammin' Salmon

| Nuts/Zongo

|-

| The 2 Bobs

| Spam King

|-

| 2010

| Broken Lizard Stands Up

| Self

|-

|rowspan=2| 2012

| The Babymakers

| Ron Jon

|-

| Freeloaders

| Porn Director

|-

| 2018

| Super Troopers 2

| Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn

|-

| 2021

| Plan B

| Pharmacist

|-

| 2022

| Easter Sunday

| Nick

|-

| 2023

| Quasi

| King Guy/Blouin

|-

| 2026

| Super Troopers 3

| Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn

|}

Editor

{|class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Year

! Title

|-

| 1996

| Puddle Cruiser

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1999

|Los Enchiladas!

|-

| Two Ninas

|-

| 2002

| Super Troopers

|-

| 2005

| The Dukes of Hazzard

|-

|}

Television

Director

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Episode

|-

| 2001–2002

| Undeclared

|

  • "Hal and Hillary"
  • "Hell Week" "Rush and Pledge"

|-

| 2003

| Andy Richter Controls the Universe

|

  • "Saturday Early Evening Fever"

|-

|rowspan=2| 2004

| Oliver Beene

|

  • "Kissing Babies"

|-

| Cracking Up

|

  • "Grudge Match"

|-

| 2003–2004

| Arrested Development

|

  • "Justice is Blind"
  • "Altar Egos"
  • "Beef Consommé"
  • "My Mother The Car"

|-

| 2006–2007

| The Loop

|

  • "The Dutch"
  • "CSI: Donut Idol Bowl"
  • "The Rusty Trombone"
  • "The Tiger Express"

|-

| 2007

| Human Giant

|

  • "Ta Da"
  • "Lil 9-11"
  • "Let's Go"

|-

| 2008

| Lipstick Jungle

|

  • "Chapter 4: Bombay Highway"
  • "Chapter 17: Bye, Bye Baby"

|-

| 2008–2009

| Knight Rider

|

  • "Knight of the Hunter"
  • "Fly by Knight"

|-

| 2008–2012

| Psych

|

  • "Let's Doo-Wop It Again"
  • "Chivalry Is Not Dead... But Someone Is"
  • "Bollywood Homicide"
  • "The Greatest Adventure in the History of Basic Cable"

|-

| 2008–2012

| Chuck

|

  • "Chuck Versus the Ex"
  • "Chuck Versus the Suburbs"
  • "Chuck Versus the Living Dead"
  • "Chuck Versus the Balcony"
  • "Chuck Versus Sarah"

|-

| 2009–2012

| Royal Pains

|

  • "The Hankover"
  • "A Guest House Divided"
  • "Hank and the Deep Blue Sea"
  • "Am I Blue?"

|-

| 2010–2011

| Blue Mountain State

|

  • "Superstition"
  • "The Peak"
  • "Riot"
  • "Drunk Tank"
  • "Marathon Monday"

|-

| 2010–2015

| Community

|

  • "Mixology Certification"
  • "Intro to Political Science"
  • "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts"
  • "The First Chang Dynasty"
  • "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking"
  • "Introduction to Teaching"
  • "Basic Story"
  • "Basic Email Security"
  • "Basic RV Repair and Palmistry"

|-

| 2011–2012

| Happy Endings

|

  • "The Girl with the David Tattoo"
  • "Meet the Parrots"
  • "You Snooze, You Bruise"
  • "More Like Stanksgiving"

|-

| 2011–2012

| Up All Night

|

  • "First Night Away"
  • "Baby Fever"

|-

|rowspan=3| 2012

| Warehouse 13

|

  • "No Pain, No Gain"

|-

| Animal Practice

|

  • "Dr. Yamamazing"

|-

| Ben & Kate

|

  • "Career Day"

|-

| 2014

| Really

|

  • "Pilot" (Also wrote and produced)

|-

| 2014–2018

| New Girl

|

  • "Sister III"
  • "The Crawl"
  • "Jeff Day"
  • "Mario"
  • "The Cubicle"

|-

| 2014–2021

| The Goldbergs

| 23 episodes

|-

| 2015–2016

| The Grinder

|

  • "The Curious Disappearance of Mr. Donovan"
  • "A System on Trial"
  • "Full Circle"

|-

| 2016

| Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

|

  • "When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?"

|-

| 2017–2019

| Fresh Off the Boat

|

  • "A League of Her Own"
  • "Workin' the Ween"
  • "TMI: Too Much Integrity"

|-

|rowspan=3| 2018

| The Mayor

|

  • "The Lockdown"

|-

| Instinct

|

  • "Long Shot"

|-

| Us & Them

|

  • "Corn & Cancer"

|-

|rowspan=2| 2019

| Lethal Weapon

|

  • "Dial M for Murtaugh"

|-

| Single Parents

|

  • "That Elusive Zazz"

|-

| 2019–2020

| Schooled

|

  • "Tamagotchis and Bells"
  • "CB Likes Lainey"
  • "The Rudy-ing of Toby Murphy"
  • "FeMellor"

|-

| 2019-2023

| Good Trouble

|

  • "In The Middle"
  • "New Moon"
  • "Baby, Just Say Yes"
  • "About Damn Time"

|-

| 2021

| Resident Alien

|

  • "Birds of a Feather"
  • "Love Language"

|-

|rowspan=2| 2022

| Monarch

|

  • "About Last Night"

|-

| The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

|

  • "Trade Rumors"
  • "Summer Breezers"

|-

| 2023

| Home Economics

|

  • "Gallon of Milk, $4.35"

|-

| 2023–2026

| Animal Control

|

  • "Dogs and Bears and Minks"
  • "Cows and Raccoons"
  • "Peacocks and Pumas"
  • "Dogs and Chickens"
  • "Goats, Snakes and Dogs"
  • "Baby Kangaroos and Chickens"
  • "Bats and Camels"
  • "Scaredy Cats and Card Sharks"

|}

Acting roles

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Note

|-

| 2004

| The 100 Scariest Movie Moments

| Himself

| TV special

|-

|rowspan=2| 2007

| Attack of the Show

| Co-host

|

|-

| Welcome to the Parker

|

| Episode 1

|-

| 2009

| Psych

| Jawaharlal 'Jay' Singh

| Episode "Bollywood Homicide"

|-

| 2012

| Royal Pains

| Jake

| Episode "A Guesthouse Divided"

|-

|rowspan=2| 2013

| Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

| Joey

| TV movie

|-

| Franklin & Bash

| JD Altero

| Episode "Gone in a Flash"

|-

| 2014

| Really

|

|

|-

| 2015

| Community

| Gupta Gupti Gupta

| Episode "Basic Email Security"

|-

| 2016

| Family Guy

| Indian Man / Census Taker

| Episode "Road to India"

|-

|rowspan="2"| 2018

| Nailed It

| Guest judge

| Episode 6: "In Your Face!"

|-

| Brooklyn Nine-Nine

| Himself

| Episode NutriBoom

|}

References