Kumail Nanjiani Biography

Kumail Nanjiani (born February 21, 1978) is a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. Nanjiani is best known for being a main cast member on HBO's Emmy Award-nominated series Silicon Valley, as well as for providing the voice of Prismo on the Emmy Award-winning animated series Adventure Time. He starred on the TNT series Franklin & Bash and the Adult Swim series Newsreaders. Nanjiani also co-hosted the Comedy Central show The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail. In addition to his television and film work, he hosts two podcasts: The Indoor Kids and The X-Files Files.

In 2017, Nanjiani starred in the romantic comedy film The Big Sick, which he wrote with his wife Emily V. Gordon.

Early life

Nanjiani was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He was raised as a Shia Muslim, but became an atheist later in life. He is related to the Pakistani-Scottish radio presenter Shereen Nanjiani.

During his childhood, Nanjiani lived in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School. At 18, he moved to the United States and attended Grinnell College in Iowa, from which he graduated in 2001. He completed a double major in Computer Science and Philosophy.

Career

In July 2011, he and X-Play staffer Ali Baker began hosting a video game-themed podcast, titled The Indoor Kids. In late August of the same year Baker left the show and Nanjiani began hosting with his wife, Emily V. Gordon. Until other commitments took over, he appeared regularly on Dan Harmon's podcast Harmontown, where he played Dungeons & Dragons with Harmon as a character named Chris de Burgh. He played a delivery man in the 2013 film, The Kings of Summer. In addition to guest-starring in various comedy shows like Portlandia, Nanjiani was featured in a supporting role in the TNT series Franklin & Bash. He played the role of Pindar Singh, an agoraphobic science fiction nerd working for the title characters.

Nanjiani guest-starred on HBO's Veep as a statistician. He had a recurring role of Amir Larussa on Newsreaders, as well as Prismo on Adventure Time. His Comedy Central special titled Beta Male aired in July 2013. In late June 2013, Comedy Central announced the pickup of a show 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 The Walking Dead: Season Two. In July 2014, Nanjiani hosted a weekly podcast titled The X-Files Files, dedicated to discussion and fond reminiscences about The X-Files. Each episode features him and a guest, including former The X-Files writers, producers, actors and directors, in light-hearted banter centered around either 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 an episode of Broad City called "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 Halo 5: Guardians. On May 5, 2015, he appeared on Inside Amy Schumer in the episode "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer", a parody of 12 Angry Men, as one of the members of the jury. In July 2015, Nanjiani provided guest voices on Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero. In November 2015, he starred in an Old Navy TV commercial together with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Snoop Dogg. In April 2016, he starred in another Old Navy advertisement with SNL cast members Jay Pharoah, Cecily Strong, and Nasim Pedrad.

In 2017, Nanjiani starred in the romantic comedy film The Big Sick, which he wrote with his wife Emily V. Gordon.

Personal life

Nanjiani has been married to Emily V. Gordon, an author, comedy producer, and former couples and family therapist since 2007. She is the booker and producer of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, a comedy show that began airing on Comedy Central in July 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Life as We Know It	Simon
2012	The Five-Year Engagement	Pakistani Chef
2013	The Kings of Summer	Gary the Delivery Guy
2013	Hell Baby	Cable Guy
2013	Bad Milo	Bobbi
2014	The Last of the Great Romantics	George the Counter Guy
2014	Sex Tape	Punit
2015	Loaded	Reza
2015	Hot Tub Time Machine 2	Brad
2015	Addicted to Fresno	Damon
2015	Hello, My Name Is Doris	Nasir
2015	Hell and Back	Dave the Demon	Voice
2015	Goosebumps	Foreman
2016	Central Intelligence	Airfield Security Guard
2016	Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates	Keanu
2016	Brother Nature	Riggleman
2016	Flock of Dudes	Ro
2016	The Late Bloomer	Rich
2017	The Big Sick	Kumail	Also writer
2017	Fist Fight	Officer Mehar
2017	The Lego Ninjago Movie	Jay (voice)	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Saturday Night Live	Indian Reporter	Uncredited Episode: "James Franco/Kings of Leon"
2009	The Colbert Report	Omar / Homer / Secret Prisoner	2 episodes
2009	Michael & Michael Have Issues.	Kumail	7 episodes
2010	Ugly Americans	Neilando Patel (voice)	Episode: "Treegasm"
2011	Traffic Light	Paul	Episode: "Where the Heart Is"
2011	CollegeHumor Originals	Vendor	Episode: "Batman Chooses His Voice"
2011	Googy	Dwane / Dwayne	6 episodes
2011-2014	Franklin & Bash	Pindar Singh	31 episodes
2011-2017	Portlandia	Various	12 episodes
2012-2016	Adventure Time	Prismo (voice)	7 episodes
2013-2015	Newsreaders	Amir Larussa	11 episodes
2013	Burning Love	Zakir	17 episodes
2013	Veep	Statistician	Episode: "Midterms"
2013	Drunk History	Lakota Chief	Episode: "Nashville"
2013	Ghost Ghirls	Mr. Mattoo	Episode: "I Believe in Mira-ghouls"
2014-present	Silicon Valley	Dinesh Chugtai	33 episodes
2014	Math Bites	Showoff Guy	Episode: "Math Heads: Do Math in Your Head"
2014	The Pete Holmes Show	Dhalsim	Episode: "Erin Hamlin and Kate Hansen"
2014-2016	The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail	Himself (host)	24 episodes
2014	TripTank	Dick Genie (voice)	4 episodes
2014	Garfunkel and Oates	Jordan	Episode: "Hair Swap"
2014	Key and Peele	College Kid #1	Episode: "Scariest Movie Ever"
2014-2015	Bob's Burgers	Skip (voice)	Episodes: "Best Burger"; "Glued, Where's My Bob?"
2014-2015	Community	Custodian Lapari	2 episodes
2015	Broad City	Benny Calitri	Episode: "In Heat"
2015	Archer	Farooq Ashkani (voice)	Episode: "Sitting"
2015	Inside Amy Schumer	Juror #11	Episode: "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer"
2015	Scheer-RL	Mariah Carey	Episode: "Mariah Carey"
2015	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Cuteling Mayor (voice)	Episode: "The Ripple Effect"
2015	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Frylock's bees (voice)	Episode: "Sweet C"
2015	The Grinder	Prosecutor Leonard	Episodes: "Pilot"; "Full Circle"
2016	The X-Files	Pasha	Episode: "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster"
2016	Animals.	Rusty (voice)	Episode: "Dogs."
2016	31st Independent Spirit Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2016	HarmonQuest	Eddie Lizard	Episode: "The Dragon's Temple"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2013	The Walking Dead: Season Two	Reggie
2015	Fight Haver (Fast Drive)	Fight Haver
2017	Mass Effect: Andromeda	Jarun Tann

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Game Grumps	Himself	1 episode
	Movie Fights	Himself	1 episode