In the early days of his comedic career, Brampton’s Darryl Hinds, 39, would often squirm during auditions when asked to mimic the East Indian accent or play the stereotypical cab driver.

Over the years though, Hinds, who is of Jamaican descent, has built an impressive portfolio as an actor and is now able to politely decline playing clichéd characters.

“There’s not as many opportunities, especially in the comedy community for actors of colour,” said Hinds, an alum of Brampton’s Chinguacousy Secondary School. “In the beginning, whenever I was offered the cab driver, or convenience store clerk’s role and asked to do an Indian accent, I was uneasy because I didn’t want to mock anybody. Luckily, as my reputation grew, I had the security within myself to say, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”

As a member of CBC’s popular Air Farce since 2014, Hinds will appear once again in its New Year’s Eve show airing, Friday, Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. The hour-long special will recap important milestones of 2016.

Hinds (Little Mosque on the Prairie, Rookie Blue, Murdoch Mysteries) will appear alongside Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, Jessica Holmes (The Holmes Show), Craig Lauzon (Fool Canada), Aisha Alfa (The Beaverton) and Emma Hunter (Mr. D).

Peter Mansbridge and Yannick Bisson (Murdoch Mysteries) are the special guests.

“Air Farce is truly one of the most diverse sketch troupes in Canada/U.S.,” Hinds said. “Diversity, not just in terms of ethnicity, but we have seniors as well as women outnumbering men this year.”

Sketches include Mansbridge taking a stab at fake news and soccer superstar Christine Sinclair fanning the Olympic flame for a young admirer.

“Obviously, the big story of 2016 is Donald Trump and since it’s a political show, we will be poking fun at Trump,” Hinds said. “I will be doing a Obama impression, which I absolutely had a ball doing. The great thing about Don (Ferguson), a founding troupe member, is that he’s very open to ideas.”

Hinds landed at the Second City Theatre in the Mainstage Company before he even graduated from University of Toronto Mississauga Campus. There, he wrote, acted and performed in some seven original revues including the hit “Facebook of Revelations” as well as “Tazed and Confused.”