During an after party for The New Yorker Festival on Oct. 11, which was held in the Standard hotel's Boom Boom Room, the The Mindy Project actress was greeted by a man who had clearly mistaken her identity, the The New York Times revealed.
According to the publication, Kaling was approached by "a tipsy man in his 80s" who "showered her with compliments, apparently mistaking her for Malala Yousafzai."
"Congratulations on your Nobel Prize," he told her. The elderly man then went on to praise Kaling for her bravery and comment on how well she had recovered since being shot in the head by a masked Taliban gunman in 2012.
It instantly became obvious to the actress that she had, in fact, been mistaken for the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner and female education activist Malala Yousafzai.
"Did he really think I'm Malala? And that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?" Kaling asked the The New York Times reporter. "That's the best thing that's happened all night," she added.
However, the two women do actually have something in common. According to E! News, they both made Time's 100 Most Influential People list in 2013.
So, how does the funny woman feel about the identity mix-up? She's honored.
Taking to Twitter on Sunday, the former The Office star revealed her feelings and added a little joke in there about her age.
Honored to have been mistaken for @MalalaFund! (yes, a little bit because she is 17). http://t.co/UD0kpqSwmX
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) October 26, 2014
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