DH!: In the U.S. you are most known for your gig as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but you have also written the play Sakina's Restaurant and made the movie Today's Special, you've been on Broadway and on TV, and now you're playing Commander Zhao in M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Last Airbender, how did you get the part?

Aasif Mandvi: It was just an audition. I went in an auditioned for Night and he cast me. I went in and put myself on tape and they called and said 'Night is very interested and he wants to talk to you.' He called me on my cell and actually I was at the airport when he called me. I was on my way to Kansas City to shoot for The Daily Show so he's talking to me about The Last Airbender and the character and I had to go and shut off the phone. It was a weird thing but he was like 'I understand' and he was like 'you wanna do this?' I was like 'yeah.'

DH!: So tell us a bit about your role in the movie.

Aasif Mandvi: Commander Zhao is the commander of the Fire Nation. The movie takes place in this fictional world where people use the four elements to fight; air, fire, water and earth, so the Fire Nation is this imperial force that is ruling the other three nations and I play the commander of the Fire Nation.