TORONTO - An apparent explosion of TV roles played by South Asian actors on series including "The Office," "Community" and the upcoming "Outsourced," is a boon to a community often overlooked by mainstream networks, say Indian and Pakistani performers who are finding the small screen a lot more inclusive these days.

From Iqbal Theba's easily compromised principal Figgins on "Glee," to Aziz Ansari's wise-cracking slacker Tom Haverford on "Parks and Recreation," to Archie Panjabi's hard-nosed investigator Kalinda Sharma on "The Good Wife," South Asian performers are landing parts that go beyond the villain role, says Toronto-raised actress Nazneen Contractor, whose parents are both from India.

"It's a great time to be South Asian, I can't deny it," says Contractor, who scored recurring roles in the upcoming Fox/Global drama, "Lone Star," and NBC's new single-camera comedy, "The Paul Reiser Show."

"I think it was just a matter of time. You saw it with African Americans, you saw it with Asian people and now you see it with South Asian people," she says, referring to a wave of black comedies that marked the '70s such as "Good Times" and "Sanford and Son," and a string of more recent Asian breakout stars, including "Grey's Anatomy"'s Sandra Oh, "Battlestar Galactica"'s Grace Park and "Lost"'s Daniel Dae Kim.

Industry watcher Peter Vamos credits the mini-boom to the theatrical success of "Slumdog Millionaire," a surprise box office smash that claimed last year's Oscar prizes for best picture, directing, writing, and score.

"If you see one hit of some sort, one theme touched upon whether it's on TV or in feature films, then all of a sudden you've got a million versions of that," says Vamos, director of the Banff World Television Festival, which wrapped up earlier this month.

"I guarantee you somebody saw 'Slumdog Millionaire' and went, 'OK, look at the success of this thing. Here's a whole market nobody's even thought to tap into.' ...No one will take a risk until a small project like that hits it big and then everyone's going to want to tap into that market."

One of this fall's most buzzed-about shows is "Outsourced," a sitcom set entirely at a call centre in Mumbai and featuring a largely unknown cast of South Asian actors. It's bound for NBC's Thursday-night comedy lineup (and will air in Canada on Global) and centres on a U.S. office manager who moves to India to teach locals how to sell American products.

Despite the ground-breaking premise, it's already drawing fire by some TV critics who warn it reeks of the "Indian nerd" stereotype.

Contractor, who auditioned for the series, notes that "Outsourced" faces a tricky challenge in finding humour in the clash of cultures without being perceived as racist.

"It'll either be embraced or it'll be shunned for just being so backwards," says Contractor, who now lives in Los Angeles.

"It's not as progressive (as hoped). It paints South Asians in a very dim light, to say the least.... But I think it'll be funny. I think if it's handled well, it'll be pretty funny."

South Asia's burgeoning TV presence mirrors a growing Canadian population from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka -- projections by Statistics Canada put the immigrant group on track to becoming the country's largest visible minority by 2031.

According to the 2006 census, about 1.3 million out of Canada's 31.2 million people were of South Asian and East Indian origins.

Vamos says the advent of a show like "Outsourced" reflects North America's more fully integrated -- and complex -- cultural landscape.

Today's immigrant families include first and second-generation Canadians who aren't interested in the myriad of specialty channels that target new arrivals in their native tongue. At the same time, they're similarly disenfranchised by the homogenous casts and one-dimensional immigrant portrayals on mainstream television.

"Now the next generation has come up, they're educated and raised in U.S. or Canadian school systems, they're fully integrated.... English is their first language, not their second language," notes Vamos.

"But they still hold dear the culture of their parents and so why not create a show that speaks directly to them as first generation Canadians or first generation Americans?"

South of the border, industry consultant Larry Gerbrandt says the trend marks a new era of inclusivity.

"In the age of (U.S. President Barack) Obama we're being much more conscious and deliberate," says Gerbrandt, who runs Media Valuation Partners out of Los Angeles.

"With Obama we've finally had to admit to ourselves we are a diverse country."

Toronto actress Glenda Braganza, who appears in the upcoming CBC-TV comedy "Men With Brooms," says it all speaks to a growing awareness by show creators that a small change in a show's cast can pull in a much bigger audience.

"There is such a broad market out there and people will watch things that are new to them but they will also watch things that are familiar to them," says the Halifax-born Braganza, whose parents are from the Portuguese settlement of Goa on India's west coast.

"Changing up a traditional look of a show appeals to your traditional audience because you're seeing something new but it also brings in a whole new group of people who maybe didn't identify with the show before. I know for me personally, when I see a South Asian actor my ears perk up and I think, 'Wow, that's great because I can identify with them.' To be an actor of South Asian descent, I feel a bit honoured to be a part of that. It's really cool."