Raised in the suburbs of Toronto, Singh felt pressure from an early age to excel. “I grew up in a culture, which is unfortunately common in a lot of cultures around the world, where a son and a boy is considered a huge win and the daughter is considered a little bit of a burden,” she tells Parade. “I'm the second daughter in my family, and from the day I was born until adulthood, it was very clear to me that I had a lot to prove as a girl…not from my immediate family, but from extended family, from the community, from the culture at large. So that's in my DNA.”
Singh built resilience in her youth, she explains, and found herself constantly striving for something more. “Do I think that's a fair and healthy circumstance?” she muses. “Not necessarily. Do I think that's maybe what the driving force behind my success is? Absolutely. So it's a little bittersweet.”
She adds, “Comedy has a way of just kind of holding you like a warm hug in very scary times.”
Lilly SinghCourtesy of Lilly Singh
“I had come to L.A. a few times, and I’ve gone to the big Cons and some creator-type events, and I always felt super out of place because it seemed like everyone else knew each other,” she reflects. “They all knew some recipe and culture that I was unaware of and I was not a part of.”
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“I know from an actual research perspective that when people don't see stories featuring people that look like them, it actually can hinder the evolution of certain communities,” she says. “So much of what we see on TV and in movies is how we understand ourselves. It's how we grow. It's how conversations happen, and when those people in those TV shows and movies always look one way, that means a conversation also always sounds one way.”
A Little Late With Lilly Singh (Photo by: Scott Angelheart/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)Scott Angelheart/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
“When it was revealed to me how historic this could be and how much this could help move the needle, I was like, ‘OK, absolutely, I want to be a part of this,’” she recalls, explaining that, looking back, she had a lot of preconceived notions that were perhaps “a little naïve.”
Sometimes, she says, “that table is not necessarily built for us. I think the greater goal should be to build our own tables — ones where we are actually invited into the conversation and treated like equals.”
While A Little Late With Lilly Singh ended after two years, she says she’s grateful for the experience. Since then, Singh has remained steadfast in her commitment to broadening representation, specifically through Unicorn Island, which she launched in 2021. Though it’s come with some challenges, Singh insists the hustle is “worthwhile.” Its production side is dedicated to entertainment, TV and film while the company’s charity arm has grassroots efforts mostly in India. The connecting thread? Storytelling.
Lilly SinghCourtesy of Lilly Singh
She says, “I vividly remember moments in my life where I watched a movie, and suddenly I was like, I feel now like I can do something I previously did not feel I could do.”
Singh specifically recalls her first appearance in India, where she hosted a meet-and-greet with about 200 people a few weeks after she publicly identified as bisexual. “I kid you not when I say 100 of those people came up to me simply because they saw my story online [and said], ‘This is what my experience has been.’ I think we underestimate the power of seeing people that look like you — learning, growing, experiencing things — and the power that has to unlock something in your mind to think, ‘Oh, I too can do that. I too can believe in that. I too deserve that.’”
Singh’s first feature film, Doin’ It, had a splashy premiere at the South by Southwest festival last year, and it is a perfect example of the work that she’s dedicated to making. A sex comedy à la The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Singh takes on this tried-and-true genre with her own twist.
Lilly Singh of Unicorn IslandCourtesy of Unicorn Island
She describes the film as a “comedic commentary about a woman unlearning shame.” While that may not sound “sexy,” she insists that it is — and explains that it comes complete with her signature brand of Singh comedy.
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“There are certain groups of people that always are viewed through their potential. ‘Oh, they have great potential to do this, and there's so much potential for this story,’” she begins. “Then there's another group of people — women, minority voices — that constantly have to prove themselves.”
Lilly SinghCourtesy of Lilly Singh
“Proof vs. potential is the ethos of my production company,” she continues. “It is like trying to rebuild the system in a way that equalizes the playing field a little bit, where groups of people don't have to keep proving themselves over and over and over again.
“At the end of the day,” she adds, “everyone deserves to see themselves in a story.”
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