Kunal Nayyar is going viral for all the right reasons.
The Big Bang Theory alum spoke to The i Paper recently and his revelation about what he likes to do with his money caught fire on X.
“Money has given me greater freedom and the greatest gift is the ability to give back, to change people’s lives,” Nayyar told the outlet. “We also support animal charities because we love dogs. But what I really love to do is go on GoFundMe at night and just pay random families’ medical bills. That’s my masked vigilante thing! So, no, money doesn’t feel like a burden. It feels like a grace from the universe.”
The outlet noted that Nayyar and his wife, Neha Kapur, also use their wealth to quietly fund college scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Thanks in large part to his role on the long-running sitcom as astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali, Nayyar is worth a reported $45 million, according to Fortune. The Big Bang cast is said to have earned a whopping $1 million per episode at the height of the beloved show’s success.
While not everyone may be as financially blessed as Nayyar is, people everywhere can benefit from helping people around them, he told The I Paper.
“Right now, people are not happy,” he said, “because we are all expecting someone else to be kind. We are expecting a president or a politician, some leader, to come and bring us world peace. But there is no world peace if your neighbor comes to your door wanting some sugar for their tea, and you lock it against them and say, ‘Get away.’… No one is going to come and change the world for you. You have to do it for yourself.”
Nayyar played Rajesh in all 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory. The series finally ended in 2019 with the distinction of ending without any of the principal cast having left the show. The series has also produced two spinoffs: Young Sheldon, focusing on an aged-down version of Parsons’ character Sheldon Cooper (played by Iain Armitage); and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, a recent spinoff of Young Sheldon that focuses on Sheldon’s older brother, Georgie (Montana Jordan), and Georgie’s wife, Mandy (Emily Osment).
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Since leaving Rajesh behind, Nayyar has starred in several TV series, including an onscreen reunion with BBT costar Melissa Rauch on Night Court, and in several films, including Christmas Karma, How to Date Billy Walsh, and Spaceman.