Mindy Kaling 'Cornered' Jay Ellis in the Hallway of Their Kids' School to Convince Him to JoinRunning PointCast

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Jay Ellis and Mindy Kaling.Photo:Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Jay Ellisis looking back on the momentMindy Kalingasked him to be part of her latest series,Running Point— apparently while he was dropping his daughter off at school!

During a panel with hisRunning Pointcostars at the Paley Museum on Wednesday, Feb. 26, the 43-year-old actor and dad of two revealed that Kaling, 45, “cornered” him in the hallway of his child’s school to check in on his interest in the show.

“My kid and Mindy’s kids go to the same school,” said Ellis, who shares daughter Nora, 3, and son Noa, 7 months, with wifeNina Senicar.

From left: Jay Ellis as Jay and Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon in Episode 105 of ‘Running Point’.Kat Marcinowski/Netflix

Kat Marcinowski/Netflix

Ellis told PEOPLE at the screening and panel that he’s known Kaling — who is mom to kids Katherine “Kit,” 7, Spencer, 4, and Anne, 12 months — “forever.” As he explained, working with show creators Dave Sasson, Kaling and Barinholtz was “like working with friends.”

“Then to go to work every single day and your office is a basketball court is crazy,” Ellis, a longtime basketball fan who previously worked as an intern for an NBA team, said. “Like every single day I was out there like, ‘Oh, I got it. I got it.’ I I’m like splitting my pants. I’m sweating through my makeup… You don’t get to do a lot of jobs like this that bring together so much of your life experience and things you love. And your love for craft. It’s very rare that that happens and I was lucky to be able to do it.”

From left: Jay Ellis, Brenda Song, Scott MacArthur, Kate Hudson, Justin Theroux, Drew Tarver at Netflix’s “Running Point”: Exclusive Screening and Discussion held at The Paley Museum on February 26, 2025 in New York, New York.Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

Speaking with PEOPLE at the series' Los Angeles premiere this month, theTop Gun: Maverickstar revealed how his daughter has been adjusting to being a big sister to her new little brother.

“She’s still working on it. She loves him a lot,” Ellis said of Nora while at the Egyptian Theatre. “We got to back her away from him because she just wants to hug him. She wants him to be a teddy bear, basically. That’s what we’re usually fighting against.”

“He’s good. He’s big. I think he might be a basketball player one day,” he said. “He’ll be an athlete for sure! He’s a big boy.”

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Running Pointis now available to stream on Netflix.

source: people.com