Mindy Kaling has said she is “really excited” to become a mother as she addressed her pregnancy for the first time.

The US actress, best known for sitcom The Mindy Project, was reported to be pregnant last month but she did not confirm the news at the time.

In a preview of an interview on US talk show Today, Kaling said she is “really excited” about motherhood.

Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling (Ian West/PA)

The 38-year-old said: “It’s so unknown to me. I have a lot of control over a lot of aspects of my life, and this is one where I’m like, ‘OK, it’s out of my hands’, which is kind of a fun feeling.”

Asked if she knows what kind of parent she will be, Kaling joked: “It’s so easy to criticise parenting until you’re a parent, so one of the nice things about becoming a parent is that I’ll be able to openly criticise other parenting because I will have a child.”

Kaling said she would like to be as supportive to her child as her mother, who died in 2012 of pancreatic cancer, was to her.

“My mum was incredibly fierce and so devoted to us, just loved us and really wanted us to be happy no matter what we did,” she said.

@ikebarinholtz's friend, Willie Geist came to #themindyproject set for something really cool!

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“My career choice was not something that she was familiar with and she was just so supportive of that. And if I could give that to my child, just that open-mindedness, I’d be so happy.”

Comedian, actress and writer Kaling has not revealed who the father of her child is.