In addition to serving as an executive producer for "Welcome to Chippendales," actor Kumail Nanjiani leads the new Hulu show, playing Chippendales-founder Steve Banerjee, aka Mr. Chippendale. Nanjiani has been around for quite a while, and, despite his serious role in "Welcome to Chippendales," he got his start in comedy.
The Pakistan-born actor first realized his passion for making people laugh when performing stand-up in college. Nanjiani finally started to get noticed when, in 2009, he briefly appeared on a handful of comedy shows, including "The Colbert Report." Soon enough, he started to make frequent guest appearances on popular shows, such as "Portlandia," "Veep," and "Adventure Time."
However, Nanjiani didn't become a household name until 2014 when he joined HBO's "Silicon Valley" as one of its main characters, computer coder Dinesh. With his new "Silicon Valley" fame, the actor started to lean into more serious projects. In 2017, he starred in the critically acclaimed film "The Big Sick," which he co-wrote with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, about the time she went into a coma early in their relationship. The film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay.
In the past couple of years, Nanjiani pivoted to the MCU, proving that there's nothing he can't do. The actor starred as Kingo in "Eternals" and landed a role in the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series for Disney+.
