Kumail Nanjiani is a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley" and for co-writing and starring in the semi-autobiographical romantic comedy film "The Big Sick," which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2018, TIME magazine named Nanjiani one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Originally born in Karachi, Pakistan, Nanjiani came to the US in the mid-1990s to attend school at Grinnell College. When he arrived, he started watching comedians on television, particularly David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld. After seeing a classmate of his perform stand-up comedy in college, Nanjiani decided to try his hand at it.
After graduating, Nanjiani moved to Chicago, performing stand-up and eventually getting spots on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and Conan O’Brien’s late-night program on TBS. Subsequently, Nanjiani landed staff writing gigs on hit comedy shows like "The Colbert Report."
In 2009, the Comedy Channel named Nanjiani as one of the year’s breakout comedians. Since then, he has gone on to play increasingly bigger roles on both television and in film. He occurred regularly on the HBO Max comedy series "Portlandia"; starred in the TNT series "Franklin & Bash"; co-hosted the Comedy Central show, "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail"; and lent his voice to the animated series "Adventure Time" as Prismo. It was "Silicon Valley" that led Nanjiani to his breakout role.
Nanjiani headlined the first episode of the CBS All Access revival of the anthology series "The Twilight Zone," which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. He wrote for and produced the Apple TV+ anthology series "Little America," which earned nominations from both the NAACP Image Awards and Independent Spirit Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series and Best New Scripted Series, respectively. He also starred in the lead role of the Hulu miniseries "Welcome to Chippendales" and earned another Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Nanjiani has also entered the Marvel Universe, portraying Kingo in the film "Eternals"; starred as street-level con artist Haja Estree in the Disney+ miniseries "Obi-Wan Kenobi"; and played celebrity scientist Vik in the Amazon Prime series "The Boys Presents: Diabolical and The Boys." He is set to appear in the fourth season of "Only Murders in the Building" alongside stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez.
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, with whom he co-wrote "The Big Sick," launched a podcast, "Staying In With Emily and Kumail." The series chronicled their experiences as a couple forced to live in isolation during the global pandemic. The podcast was widely acclaimed in the media, as a welcome respite during a period of high anxiety.
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