For 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory reigned supreme as one of television’s top comedies. While stars Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco were already recognizable talents (along with Mayim Bialik, who came along later), the sitcom helped their co-stars, Kunal Nayyar, Melissa Rauch, Simon Helberg and Jim Parsons make major names for themselves. Now, though, Nayyar has reflected on the days right before landing his primetime gig.
What Did Kunal Nayyar Say About Cleaning Toilets Before Landing The Big Bang Theory?
Everyone has to start somewhere, and there are few people who begin their working lives at the top of their industry. This is also true for actors, who are known for holding a wide-variety of low-level jobs to make ends meet as they make their ascent in Hollywood.
Though 2007 marked the beginning of a long boom period for Kunal Nayyar and his The Big Bang Theory co-stars (there was a time when he, Helberg, Galecki and Parsons were the top four paid TV stars for several years in a row), when he first landed in the United States for college in 1999, he simply had to make ends meet. As the actor (who previously admitted to having “really pissed everyone off” when he started filming TBBT) recently told Fortune:
I just did any job I could. I cleaned toilets in my first year in 1999, I was in the housekeeping department. I did every and anything I could. There was no job that was beneath me.
Of course, this is the case with many people whether they’re in Nayyar’s specific position or not. Sometimes you gotta really hustle to keep your head above the ever-rough financial waters, and being young, a student, or from another country just adds to the level of dedication you might need to make sure the bills are paid.
Nayyar (who cried along with Cuoco and Rauch during their final table read for the CBS hit) also said that he would work 16 hour shifts during his time as a college student in the U.S., which eventually included his Master’s degree studies in acting at Temple University in Philadelphia. He didn’t just clean toilets, however. He also did things like teach acting, manage his school’s computer lab, wash windows at a church and do comedy gigs for corporate events.
The loving Big Bang Theory alum faced an unfortunate problem after graduating from Temple, though. While he’d moved to Los Angeles to make it easier to find work in movies and on television (he’s one of many to have guest starred on NCIS in its early days), he now only had one year left on the student visa that allowed him to live and work here. He explained:
I needed to book something big for me to be able to apply for a permanent resident card, and then I auditioned for Big Bang, and then the rest is history. But I only had one year left on my visa, because when you graduate as an international student, you get one year’s free work. So I was up against it in terms of timing.
I cannot imagine how stressful that must have been! It seems that any time there’s a strict deadline on something big like finding a job, the universe really has to be on your side to make things happen. Luckily, Nayyar’s hard work and planning all paid off just in the nick of time, and he’ll always be known for starring in one of TV’s most beloved comedies.