First, she was Bellatrix Lestrange. Then she rap battled USC, went to “The Great Fratsby” and most recently serenaded UCLA students with her rendition of “I’m a Bro.”
Now, as her fourth year draws to a close, Spring Sing Company member and fourth-year theater student Kimia Behpoornia is creating her own variety comedy show for the online television network Pivot.
Behpoornia said she had accidentally stumbled upon the comedy group her first year when she was looking for an improv club to join at UCLA.
“Before I came here, I asked if there were a bunch of improv groups at UCLA and someone must have lied and told me there was, because when I got here there was only one,” Behpoornia said. “Then I heard about Company, and I looked it up online, and auditioned and got in and it was the greatest thing ever.”
Company member Kausar Mohammed, a fourth-year communication studies and international development studies student, said Behpoornia brings a childlike freshness to her comedic work.
“She’s like a big kid, and that’s what makes people want to be around her and laugh with her,” Mohammed said. “She’s just very honest and forward and she’s always thinking about things that no one else would think about.”
Kyle Lau, who graduated from UCLA in 2012, also worked with Behpoornia in Company and said her true talent lies in her ability to enliven a script.
“It’s hard to find people like Kimia who are not only talented, but who also can bring a script to life,” Lau said. “I remember in Company people would strategically have Kimia read their scripts so their pieces would get picked, because if she read it, it would always be funny.”
As Behpoornia’s time in college draws to a close, she’s already getting started on her plans for her acting career. In coordination with Lau and a number of other UCLA alumni, Behpoornia’s newest project is a variety comedy show called “2KSLAM!” she hopes to air on Pivot, which gained recent attention for producing Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “HitRECord on TV.”
Behpoornia said she and the cast of “2KSLAM!” had originally wanted to put their show on YouTube, but then opted for Pivot because of its focus on airing socially conscious, original work. In “2KSLAM!” Behpoornia said she would like to reform the image of the millennials.
“We want to focus on showing people what the millennials are all about since there’s such a negative connotation surrounding them,” Behpoornia said. “We want to show people that we’re right out of college and we’re doing stuff.”
Lau said the show will feature a number of segments including special guests, improv and some sketch work.
“It’s basically “Saturday Night Live” for a new digital era where we do sketches, improv, videos and stand-up, and we also want to have special guests,” Lau said. “It’s kind of like this big postgrad Company.”
In addition to her work on “2KSLAM!,” Behpoornia spends her time writing a script for an animated twist on “The Billy Goats Gruff,” performing improv comedy in Hollywood and teaching improv at her old high school.
Behpoornia said she knows that careers in acting can be unpredictable, but keeps her enthusiasm for learning and acting alive by remembering her passions.
“Right now it’s OK to just do things that I like because I’ve always had a project to keep myself busy, so I never really feel sad, because I’m just so excited about it,” Behpoornia said. “I know that it’s going to be hard, but I love what I do.”
Lau said he has no doubt that Behpoornia will achieve her goals. To Lau, the thing that sets Behpoornia apart isn’t just her talent, but also her character on the whole.
“I only see her going up. She’s probably hands down one of the best people I’ve ever worked with,” Lau said. “She’s talented and dedicated, but is also a good-hearted person. I’ve been working in Hollywood for two years now, and I can’t even begin to tell you how rare it is to find (that).”