"I never voiced this concern. Maybe I should have."
Kumail Nanjiani has revealed that he was unhappy with the way his appearance was constantly mocked in Silicon Valley.
The actor played the character of software engineer Dinesh Chugtai in the HBO comedy series which first aired in 2014.
However, in a recent interview with Vulture, Nanjiani and his writer wife Emily V Gordon spoke about his looks being used as a continuous joke.
The actor, who is also a comedian, said: “There were entire storylines around it.
“That stuff does get to you, where you’re like, ‘Aww…that’s not a great feeling’.
“I love everyone on the show, and I never voiced this concern. Maybe I should have.
“Other actors did when they had stuff that they didn’t enjoy doing.
“I understand that storyline ended up being funny. But yeah, parts of that didn’t feel great.”
Nanjiani appeared in Silicon Valley alongside a core cast of Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller, Josh Brener and Martin Starr.
The critically acclaimed show was a parody of the culture in the real-life Silicon Valley in Northern California which serves as an international technology hub.
Gordon added: “I did not like that you were considered unattractive on the show. That really bothered me.
“The assumption that [Nanjiani’s] not attractive did feel a little bit tired because when you look at those men.
“If I were ranking completely objectively.
“Even my mom would call me and be like, ‘Why are they saying that about him? I don’t understand.’ But yeah, it bugged me. I didn’t like it.”
Nanjiani mentioned in the interview: “Generally speaking, a big part of the ascribing of things that happens is sometimes it puts a filter on the world, and brown Asian men are completely desexualised.”
The actor is now set to appear in Marvel’s Eternals (2021) and has bulked up dramatically for the role, which he spoke about with the LA Times earlier in 2021.
He said: “I looked at the usual opportunities that the brown dudes get.
“We get to be nerdy. I wanted him to be the opposite of that – I wanted him to be cool.”
“With nerdy goes ‘weakling,’ and I wanted him to be the opposite of that and to be strong physically.
“Or we get to be terrorists, and I wanted him to be the opposite of that. I wanted him to be this character full of joy.”
“We were like, let’s take every single thing that I haven’t gotten to do and make a character who’s the exact opposite of the way a lot of American pop culture see people from Pakistan or the Middle East.”
Kumail Nanjiani’s Eternals (2021) will hit theatres on November 5, 2021.
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