Kumail Nanjiani

 ( 1978 Births ) 

Nanjiani guest-starred on HBO's Veep as a statistician. He had the recurring roles of Amir Larussa on Newsreaders and Prismo on Adventure Time. His Comedy Central special Beta Male aired in July 2013. In late June 2013, Comedy Central announced the pickup of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, hosted by Jonah Ray and Nanjiani. The show, featuring Nerd Melt comedy regulars and various comedians, began airing in July 2014. In April 2014, he began playing the character Dinesh in the HBO sitcom Silicon Valley. He voiced Reggie in the video game . In July 2014, Nanjiani hosted a weekly podcast titled The X-Files Files, dedicated to discussion and reminiscences about The X-Files. Each episode features Nanjiani and a guest, including former The X-Files writers, producers, actors and directors, in light-hearted banter about one or two episodes of the series. On July 30, 2014, Nanjiani appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast.

In 2015, Nanjiani guest-starred in the Broad City episode "In Heat". Starting on March 22, 2015, he provided his voice for the character of Mshak Moradi in the Hunt the Truth audio drama, part of the marketing campaign for . On May 5, 2015, he appeared on the Inside Amy Schumer episode "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer", a parody of 12 Angry Men, as one of the jurors. In July 2015, Nanjiani provided guest voices on Aqua Teen Hunger Force and .

In 2017, Nanjiani starred in the romantic comedy film The Big Sick, which he wrote with Gordon. The film is about their relationship, with Nanjiani playing himself and Zoe Kazan playing Gordon (renamed Emily Gardner). The film was one of the most acclaimed of 2017, and was chosen by American Film Institute as one of the top 10 films of the year and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film was also the third-highest-grossing independent film released in 2017, grossing over $40 million.

In 2018, he was invited to the actors and writers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2019, Nanjiani headlined the first episode of the CBS All Access revival of the anthology series The Twilight Zone. For his role on The Twilight Zone, Nanjiani received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. In film, Nanjiani voiced the alien Pawny in Men in Black International, which was released on June 14. Nanjiani stated, "I play an alien so you won't see my face but you'll hear my voice, I'm a little alien frog/lizard... thing." Nanjiani also stars in the action comedy film Stuber, released on July 12. In 2020, Nanjiani lent his voice to Plimpton, an ostrich, in the adventure comedy film Dolittle. He also wrote for and produced the Apple TV+ anthology series Little America, which premiered in January 2020. The series is based on the story collection of the same name from Epic Magazine which focuses on stories from immigrants. To promote the series, Nanjiani appeared at the Apple Event of March 25, 2019. Nanjiani starred with Issa Rae in the comedy-chase film The Lovebirds, directed by Michael Showalter, produced by Paramount Pictures, and released by Netflix in May 2020.

In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon launched a podcast, Staying In with Emily and Kumail. The series chronicles their experiences as a couple forced to live in isolation during the global pandemic. The podcast has been widely acclaimed in the media, as a welcome respite during a period of high anxiety. GQ described it as "consistently endearing, actually useful, and often hilarious." New York magazine relates that "all advice is shared via cute and charming banter."

He starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals, as Kingo Sunen, which was released on November 5, 2021. Nanjiani received widespread attention and Viral phenomenon after sharing pictures of his body transformation for the shooting of Eternals in 2019. Speaking with GQ, he noted how he has since become less comfortable speaking about his body due to the intense amount of attention it received online. In March 2021, Nanjiani was announced as cast in an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney+. In February 2020, Nanjiani signed on to star in The Independent, a political thriller to be directed by Amy Rice, though he ultimately dropped out of the role.

In 2022, Nanjiani starred in the Hulu miniseries Welcome to Chippendales in the lead role of Steve Banerjee, the hitman-hiring founder of the Chippendales dance troupe.

On March 24, 2023, it was confirmed that Nanjiani had joined the cast of . He appeared in the film, released on March 22 of the following year, as the character Nadeem Razmaadi / Firemaster.

In June 2025, it was announced that Nanjiani would perform at Belly Laughs, a new comedy and food festival in Los Angeles.

On July 16, it was announced that Nanjiani would play Mary's Husband in the Broadway play Oh, Mary!. His run began on August 4, 2025.