Kumail Nanjiani is literally living the dream. He’s hobnobbing with Hollywood’s finest, what with his pillared role in critically acclaimed comedy Silicon Valley and the recent release of his laudable autobiographical film, The Big Sick that’s opened to an exalted response. His knocking on stardom’s door wasn’t something out of the ordinary, nor was it entirely a stroke of luck. Kumail’s hard work just paid off, and he’s now relishing it all.
Kumail Nanjiani, the star of Silicon Valley and the acclaimed new movie – The Big Sick, was born and brought up in Karachi and moved to the US for higher studies
Kumail studied at Karachi Grammar school and moved to America at 18 to polish off his studies.
He got a double major in computer science and philosophy at Grinnell College in Iowa, and it was during this time where his views altered, significantly. He shifted to Chicago after college and joined the crackling stand-up circuit, and also wrote his one-man show ‘Unpronounceable’ in 2007 where he talks about his life growing up in Pakistan in a strict Shiite Muslim household.
He moved to New York a year later, where he started writing for Comedy Central show ‘Michael and Michael Have Issues.’
He’s taken a backseat from his stand-up gigs but does try and squeeze them in ever so often, premised on Pakistan.
Kumail keeps himself within a very disciplined routine in New York, and it wouldn’t be wrong to call that the reason for his growing popularity, and fame, among the masses.
“I give myself a lot of rules. I write stand-up in the morning, give myself a half hour for lunch, and then write TV stuff in the afternoon”, shares Kumail, about the way he works.
“Also, I’m never allowed to play more than three games of a video game at once. There are actually tons of rules about video games,” Kumail says. With various cameos in films like ‘The Five-Year Engagement,’ ‘Life As We Know It,’ ‘Sex Tape,’ with a few stints on ‘SNL’ and ‘The Colbert Show,’ his big break came when he was cast as Dinesh on ‘Silicon Valley.’
He met his wife Emily V. Gordon in 2006, around the time he was looking for work that was substantial and not just random TV appearances
A struggling comedian, Kumail was performing his usual stint one night when Emily tried to hoot at him from the crowd – and that’s, apparently, how they embarked on their budding romance.
They met, dated and broke up after Kumail couldn’t muster up the courage to introduce his white girlfriend to his parents, who were strictly religious and had already planned for him to travel down the arranged marriage route
Kumail, 39 and Emily, 37 have truly had a whirlwind love.
It was when his wife fell sick and was placed in an induced coma that brought them back together.
When she awoke, both screenwriters reunited, and that’s how The Big Sick – their acclaimed new movie that has catapulted Kumail, in particular, to mainstream acclaim – came about.
The film will relate to many desi people who aspire to make a life for themselves outside of their homeland
It tells the tale of Kumail and Emily’s journey, and how their relationship came to being and is centered around the traumatic incident that sculpted the entire story.
Kumail and Emily told A.V. Club that they wanted an essence of relatability within the reality, so while some details are a little more fictitious, they ‘wanted to make sure that emotionally it felt real.’ While Kumail plays himself, Emily’s role is played by Zoe Kazan of Ruby Sparks fame. Emily opted out of playing herself, stating “I’m not an actress. I’m a writer.”
The film received a lot of acclaim upon its release and since then, it’s only been up and beyond for the Pakistani actor.
Kumail is also a very interesting personality on Twitter
With a Twitter handle that boasts more than a million followers, Kumail is gathering popularity with his funny and bubbly persona that shines through his work on screen and off it too.
We’re so following Kumail’s career to see how big and famous he gets, because he’s definitely going places.
Cover image via: thedailybeast.com