Aziz Ansari plays local government official and strip club aficionado Tom Haverford in the cult US sitcom Parks and Recreation. A stand-up since he was 19, Ansari previously co-created and starred in the MTV sketch show Human Giant, which ran for two seasons and co-created and starred in the Netflix series Master Of None, and ran for three seasons in 2015, 2017 and 2021 (the latter being titled Moments in Love).

In 2018, Ansari was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who described an uncomfortable date in an article on the website Babe. Ansari responded with a statement saying that he believed the encounter was consensual but apologised that the woman felt differently. He later addressed the incident in his 2019 Netflix special Right Now.