Born in London, England, Kunal Nayyar grew up in New Delhi, India, and moved to the United States upon graduating from high school. He then entered the University of Portland in Oregon, where he majored in business and took many acting classes. After successful performances on stage, Nayyar was invited to the American College Theater Festival, where he competed and eventually won the Mark Twain Award for comic brilliance as well as a fellowship to the prestigious Sundance Theater Lab. He pursued his education at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he earned his master's degree in fine arts. Nayyar then moved on to perform on stage, appearing in Huck and Holden at the Dahlia Theater in Los Angeles, where he was awarded by the Garland Awards for best male lead in a play on the West Coast. He also appeared in Lovers Labors Lost at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon, England. In 2007, he was cast for CBS' The Big Bang Theory, where he plays Rajesh Koothrappali.
Rajesh Koothrappali is played by Kunal Nayyar in CBS' The Big Bang Theory.
(Photo courtesy of CBS)