Kunal Nayyar’s success on The Big Bang Theory has given him “the greatest gift” in allowing him to give back financially and provide for “random” strangers in need.
The 44-year-old actor, who played Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory, earned an estimated $1 million per episode of the CBS sitcom, making him one of the highest-paid TV actors in the world during the original 2007-2019 run, as per Forbes.
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Now, he tells the U.K.’s The i Paper that that kind of wealth doesn’t “weigh heavy” on him. “Money,” he told the outlet, “has given me greater freedom and the greatest gift is the ability to give back, to change people’s lives.”
Nayyar revealed that he and his wife, Neha Kapur, often fund college scholarships for disadvantaged students as part of their regular charitable donations. “We also support animal charities because we love dogs,” Nayyar said. “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,” he said with a smile. “It feels like a grace from the universe.”
The actor, who stars as modern-day Scrooge Mr. Sood in a new musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol called Christmas Karma, went on to share some wisdom from Charles Dickens’ classic tale with the outlet.
“Right now, people are not happy 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,” he said. “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.”
Christmas Karma, which was released on Nov. 14, also stars Hugh Bonneville, Eva Longoria, Billy Porter and Boy George.