Known for her five-year stint on Saturday Night Live, Nasim Pedrad has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after comedic actors.

Nasim can next be seen in the highly anticipated TBS comedy, Chad, which will air April 6, 2021. In addition to creating and writing the show, she will executive-produce and serve as co-showrunner, all while starring as the title character, “Chad,” a 14-year-old Persian boy surviving high school, trying to fit in, and struggling with his cultural identity.

In 2020, she starred in the Netflix Original romantic comedy, Desperados, alongside Robbie Amell, Lamorne Morris and Anna Camp. Previously in 2019, Pedrad was in the live-action remake of the beloved Disney classic, Aladdin, where she played Princess Jasmine’s best friend, “Dalia.”

Pedrad joined the cast of SNL in the 2009 season and played some of the most iconic characters during her time on the show. From Kim Kardashian, Arianna Huffington, and Aziz Ansari, to name a few, Pedrad showed her range as a comedic actor and won over audiences around the world.

Additional television credits include the FOX hit series’ New Girl, Scream Queens and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, TBS’ People of Earth and HBO’s critically acclaimed comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Prior to the start of her on screen career, Pedrad attended the UCLA School ofTheater, Film and Television and was a performer at the Sunday Company at The Groundlings in Los Angeles.

Pedrad currently resides in Los Angeles.

Saba Homayoon is a classically trained Persian American actress who has appeared in a number of TV shows including NCIS: LA, Medium, How I Met Your Mother, The Odd Couple, NCIS and Charmed. She has had recurring roles on Mistresses and The Loop. She also produced and starred in the New York Television Festival award-winning pilot Hit Factor, opposite Emmy Award winner James Cromwell. Recently, Saba starred opposite Diedrich Bader in The Phantom Spectre. She received an MFA in Theater from the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Paul Chahidi is a Tony and Olivier nominated British stage and screen actor. Paul is probably most well-known for his role as Reverend Francis Seaton in the BAFTA-winning This Country- for which he earned a Royal Television Society nomination for best comedy performance. He has a variety of television and film credits, including Good Omens, Britannia, Soul Mates, And Then There Were None, The Hour, and Him & Her. We will next see him in Nasim Pedrad's highly anticipated Chad.

Paul has performed across London, nationally and on Broadway with directors including Yael Farber and Polly Findlay at the National Theatre, Josie Rourke at the Donmar Warehouse, Greg Doran and Roxana Silbert at the RSC, Tim Carroll at The Globe and Dominic Cooke at the Royal
Court. In addition to his Tony and Olivier nominations, he is the winner of a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, a Clarence Derwent Award and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award; all for his performance as Maria in Tim Carroll’s production of Twelfth
Night.

Paul is currently shooting Tom George's Untitled Murder Mystery film alongside Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell. Other screen credits include Armando Iannucci’s critically acclaimed and BAFTA-winning The Death of Stalin, Christopher Robin directed by Mark Forster, The Voices
directed by Marjane Satrapi as well as Venus and Notting Hill directed by Roger Michell.

Born in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, Ella’s journey to America started on April 6th 2008, just after her first birthday, and coincidentally, the same date being used for the premiere of Chad next month. Her parents won a Green Card and moved to Los Angeles. Her father was a prominent actor back in Armenia, so it was only a matter of time before Ella would also catch the acting bug. Signs first appeared while she was in daycare, often taking on leading roles in plays and poems with her class. After a couple years of appearing in commercials for My Little Pony and Red Robin, while simultaneously taking acting classes, Ella landed her first mainstream role as ‘young Helena’ in BIRDS OF PREY, alongside Margot Robbie. Fast track to Chad" Ella has her first series regular role, embracing improv and refining her comedic craft. When Ella isn’t juggling schooling with acting or booking her next role, she loves to embrace the arts of all kinds. She’s trained in Latin American ballroom, loves fashion, cooking, baking, and stays connected to herself through meditation and yoga.

Jake Ryan (Peter) is soon to be seen alongside Nasim Pedrad in TBS’s comedy Chad written and created by Nasim Pedrad. Jake portrays Chad’s best friend, a sweet nerd who has nothing to prove and is “unbothered that puberty is destroying him.” Peter has no particular angst about attending his first day at high school. He is content with not being popular and is ready to have a great time, unlike the neurotic Chad. 

 As an actor on the rise, Jake has also had memorable roles in projects such as Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade (aka ‘sauce boy’), the Safdie Brother’s Uncut Gems in a cameo role, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and Moonrise Kingdom and the Coen Brother’s Inside Llewyn Davis. He also had a leading role in the feature film Age of Summer directed by Bill Kiely. Jake’s notable television credits include two episodes of ABC’s Splitting Up Together, Fox’s The Cool Kids, FX’s The Comedians opposite Billy Crystal and Josh Gad, TBS’ Ground Floor, and Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for Netflix. 

A New York native, Jake Ryan made his first television appearance at the age of five in Sesame Street. In addition to his feature film experience with Wes Anderson; Jake co-created and voiced a role in Anderson’s stop-motion animated commercial for Sony Experia, acted in the short Uncle Ben’s Troop Screening With Jason Schwartzman directed by Roman Coppola and Anderson, as well as provided commentary in the documentary short The Discussion & Analysis of Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

To hone his comedy chops Jake has studied Improv and Sketch Comedy at UCB, The PIT and The Barrow Group. In addition to his acting prowess, Jake is an accomplished musician. He has studied classical piano since the age of six which led him to his role in Moonrise Kingdom. In his free time Jake enjoys practicing piano, playing video games and watching anime films with his younger brother, Jeremy. 

Jake Ryan is represented by BUCHWALD.

Alexa Loo is a Chinese Canadian actress from Vancouver, British Columbia. She was born on March 28, 2003 to Melissa and Simon Loo, and has one sporty younger brother, Spencer, and a Chihuahua named Dexter.

She began dancing at the age of three, and trained intensely in many disciplines of dance including lyrical, jazz, ballet, hip hop, contemporary, stage and acrobatics. Alexa has received numerous awards and scholarships, and was accepted into several prestigious summer intensive and professional training programs. She was also selected to perform with Family Channel’s The Next Step Live during their national tour.

Alexa is starting the eleventh grade in a secondary school with a specialized program for high level athletes and artists. This enables her to balance her school work with her busy dance and acting schedules.

Alexa first got the acting bug at an elementary school of fine arts where she took part in school productions and musicals. When she signed with da Costa Talent Management in 2015 and began auditioning, that love for stage expanded to intensive scene study and on-camera training with Vancouver coaches David Kaye and Beatrice King. The feedback on Alexa’s work was immediate- casting directors and acting coaches were drawn to her and her innate ability to act.

Alexa made her television debut in a recurring role on the critically acclaimed series Rogue as Phan Hu, a victim of human trafficking. It was her first audition. She then played Hanane in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on the CW network, and a Wawa Dancer on Disney’s Gabby Duran & the Unsittables. In the fall of 2019 she begins shooting TBS’ new series Chad as Denise, a young classmate with chronic fatigue syndrome, starring along Nasim Pedrad, Ella Mika, Saba Homayoon, Paul Chahidi and Jake Ryan.

Alexa enjoys traveling the world with her family, and extreme activities such as zip lining, rappelling, wake surfing, and swimming in underwater caves. Alexa loves writing fictional short stories, and recently won an award with CBC radio. Her kind nature has resulted in her donating her hair to cancer three times.

Thomas Barbusca quickly made a name for himself with buzzworthy roles in television and film. He is best known to television audiences for his memorable role as Chip Pemberton in FOX’s The Mick, opposite Kaitlin Olson.

On the small screen, Barbusca played a variety of challenging roles with some of the industry’s biggest names. Notable recurring credits include Schooled, The Kids Are Alright, American Horror Story, Grey’s Anatomy, Preacher, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Arrested Development, and One Day at a Time. His film credits include Big Time Adolescence, and Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.

Up next, Barbusca will be seen in the anticipated TBS comedy Chad, as well as Showtime’s Black Monday.

Originally from New Jersey, he currently resides in Los Angeles.