Kunal Nayyar

Kunal Nayyar
Nayyar at PaleyFest 2013 for The Big Bang Theory.
Born	Kunal Nayyar April 30, 1981 Hammersmith, London, England, UK
Ethnicity	Punjabi
Alma mater	Temple University (MFA), University of Portland
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	2004–present
Home town	New Delhi, India
Spouse(s)	Neha Kapur (m. 2011)

Kunal Nayyar (/kʊˌnɑːl ˈnaɪər/; Punjabi: ਕੁਨਾਲ ਨੈਯ੍ਯਰ, born 30 April 1981) is a British-Indian actor and writer known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

According to Forbes, Nayyar was third on the list of World’s Highest-Paid TV Actors for 2015 with earnings of $US20 million.^[1]

Early life

Nayyar was born in Hammersmith, London to a Punjabi^[2] family and was brought up in New Delhi, India.^[3] He attended St Columba's School in New Delhi, where he played badminton for the school team.^[4][5]

In 1999, Nayyar moved to the US to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business (Finance) from the University of Portland, Oregon.^[6] Working on his degree, he started taking acting classes and appeared in several school plays.^[3]

After participating in the American College Theater Festival, Nayyar decided to become a professional actor. He then attended Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Acting.^[7]

Career

Nayyar on a tour with the rest of The Big Bang Theory cast in 2008

After graduating, Nayyar found work doing American television ads and plays on the London stage.^[8] He first gained attention in the US for his role in the West Coast production of Rajiv Joseph's 2006 play Huck & Holden, where he portrayed an Indian exchange student anxious to experience American culture before returning home.^[7] In 2006, Nayyar teamed up with Arun Das to write the play Cotton Candy, which premiered in New Delhi to positive reviews.^[9]

Nayyar made a guest appearance on the CBS drama NCIS in the episode "Suspicion" (season 4, episode 12), in which he played Youssef Zidan, an Iraqi terrorist.^[10]

Nayyar's agent heard about a role for a scientist in an upcoming CBS pilot and encouraged him to audition for the part. This led to his casting in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, where he plays astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali.^[2]

In 2011, he co-hosted the Tribute to Nerds show with co-star Simon Helberg at the comedy festival Just for Laughs.^[11]

In 2012, Nayyar voiced Gupta in Ice Age: Continental Drift. That same year, he completed the shooting of his first film Dr. Cabbie in Toronto, Canada. The film was produced by Bollywood actor Salman Khan.^[12]

From 5 May to 29 June 2015, Nayyar performed in an off-Broadway production The Spoils, written by and starring actor Jesse Eisenberg. Nayyar plays Kalyan, a Nepalese student and roommate of the protagonist Ben, played by Eisenberg. ^[13]

Nayyar published a book about his career journey, Yes, My Accent Is Real in September 2015.^[3]

Personal life

Nayyar married Miss India 2006 winner, Neha Kapur, in December 2011.^[14] They live in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	S.C.I.E.N.C.E	Pizza Man
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Gupta	Voice
2014	The Scribbler	Karem
2014	Dr. Cabbie	Tony
2014	Consumed	Serge Negani	post-production
2015	A Momentary Lapse of Reason	Ashwin Reddy	filming
2016	A Bollywoof Tale	Santoosh	pre-production
2016	Trolls	Guy Diamond	Voice

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
2007	NCIS	Youssef Zidan	Uncredited Episode: "Suspicion"
2007–present	The Big Bang Theory	Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali	Main role
2010	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	Rajesh Koothrappali
2013–present	Sanjay and Craig	Vijay (voice)	Main role
2013–14	Sullivan & Son	Sanjay/Neal	Episode: "Ladies Night", "Sexual Healing"
2015	The Late Late Show	host	February 25, 26, & 27
2015	The Mindy Project	Sendhil	Episode: "While I Was Sleeping"
2016	Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade	Gupta	TV special

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Huck and Holden	Navin	Dahlia Theater, Los Angeles, United States
	Love's Labour's Lost	Other Parts	Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford upon Avon, United Kingdom
			Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lansburgh Theatre, Washington, DC, United States
2015	The Spoils	Kalyan	The New Group at The Pershing Square Signature Center, New York, United States

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2006	Garland Award	Best Male Lead in a Play on the West Coast	Huck and Holden	Won
2012	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	The Big Bang Theory	Nominated

References

1. "The World’s Highest-Paid TV Actors".
2. Banerjee, Sudeshna (July 7, 2008). "Mr Big Bang". The Telegraph. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
3. Nayyar, Kunal (2015). Yes, My Accent Is Real: And Some Other Things I Haven't Told You. Atria Books. ISBN 978-1476761824.
4. Kapoor, Kritika (June 25, 2010). "I’d rather do social movies: Kunal Nayyar". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
5. Ahmed, Sana (June 28, 2008). "Going places". The Hindu. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
6. Successful Actors Talk About Their Training. backstage.com. Retrieved on 2012-11-17.
7. "Making it as a nerd". Rediff. November 19, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
8. Sahgal, Natasha (September 16, 2009). "Geek God". Indian Express. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
9. Chander, Romesh (June 16, 2006). "Staging the fluff of dreams". The Hindu. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
10. D'Arminio, Aubry (29 March 2016). "7 NCIS Guests Who Went on to Become Stars (PHOTOS)". tvinsider.com. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
11. Wyatt, Nelson (July 26, 2011). "'Big Bang Theory' stars say most people can relate to being nerds". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
12. Dr. Cabbie at the Internet Movie Database
13. Brantley, Ben (June 2, 2015). "'Review: ‘The Spoils’ Stars Jesse Eisenberg as Narcissist". New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
14. "The Talk, CBS". Retrieved 3 March 2012.

External links

• Kunal Nayyar at the Internet Movie Database