The actor sits down with ET's Nischelle Turner to go down memory lane.
Ghosts star Utkarsh Ambudkar stopped by the ET set earlier this week for an exclusive sit-down interview with Nischelle Turner, where he previewed season 2 of the hit CBS comedy.
On the half-hour series, Ambudkar plays Rose McIver's TV husband Jay, who, unlike McIver's character, is unable to communicate directly or see the ghosts. When he was asked how he manages to get through a scene pretending not to notice the other actors who play the undead beings, Ambudkar had the perfect retort.
"Let me tell you something. I got two kids. I’m used to ignoring people that are talking at me all the time," he joked, referring to his two young children with wife Naomi Campbell (no, not the supermodel!).
Still, Ambudkar is in scenes with his Ghosts co-stars and he admits it's a challenge not to break.
"The hardest thing is to not laugh at these actors. I mean, they’re so good. Danielle Pinnock, Brandon Scott Jones, I could name them all," he marveled. "They’re just so talented and so fun and the energy that they have together is so loving and joyful. Sheila Carrasco, who plays Flower, always gets me but that’s why there’s a thing called coverage and when the camera's on you I get to laugh as much as I want and then when the camera's on me I get to pretend like I wasn’t just laughing through all of your coverage."
Of course, Ghosts isn't the only thing keeping Ambudkar busy as of late. He was most recently in season 3 of Never Have I Ever, co-starred in The Dropout and is still gaining recognition for his supporting role in Pitch Perfect, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary in September.
"Adam [Devine] and I were like best friends on this job," Ambudkar remembered. "Adam and I were thick as thieves. And we're still friends, you know. Adam and his Workaholics boys, we got to do another movie together for Netflix called Game Over, Man! We just ran around Baton Rouge, went to like all the LSU games. We went to New Orleans, we were going to Saints games, we were going to see concerts -- JAY-Z, Kanye [West]. I don’t know when we actually shot the movie because we were just having so much fun. We were young people having a great time. The fact that the movie turned out as good as it did is, honestly, a miracle because we were just running through Baton Rouge and it was really fun."
His performance in the 2012 film led him to become friends with Mindy Kaling, who cast him on her TV show, The Mindy Project, as her little brother. That then led to his part as Mr. K, an English teacher, on Never Have I Ever, which Kaling co-created.
"Mindy saw me in Pitch Perfect and then offered me the role of her little brother on The Mindy Project, her first television show, and she gave me my break in television. We've remained in contact. When Bhumi, my son, was born she sent a gift and we've always supported each other and there's a lot of mutual love there. So when Never Have I Ever came up she reached out and was like, 'We have a role.' And I'm not gonna say no to Mindy, so it was great."
Ambudkar also praised The Dropout's Amanda Seyfried, whom he worked opposite on the Hulu series. "She's the best, I love Amanda. She's someone who will joke how we're joking right now, be totally free, fun. There's a little bit of danger, there's a spontaneity to it and as soon as they say 'action,' she's Elizabeth Holmes. There's no, 'I'm staying in character, leave me alone. Don't make eye contact.' It's very much just like she's free. Her instrument is free and she’s good to go."
Of course, Ambudkar had to show off his freestyle skills and it did not disappoint as he impressively improvised a gem of a rap to ET's iconic theme song! Watch the interview above.
Ghosts airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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