Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#739
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kumail Nanjiani works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kumail Nanjiani appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kumail. The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for romance, western, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Judd Apatow, Jorma Taccone, Eric Appel and others, Kumail Nanjiani helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas (2026) as Self · Roll Up Your Sleeves (2021) as Self · Migration (2023) as Mack Mallard (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #739 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
2012–2027
Career length
15 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
Most frequent director
Judd Apatow
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Judd Apatow
Most common genre
Comedy
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 28m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.3
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
6.1 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee, Men in Black: International, Stuber — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.1
Across 12 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee, Men in Black: International, Stuber.
Most productive era
2020s
19 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.13 films | 5.51 film |
| Action | 6.34 films | 6.72 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.51 film |
| Comedy | 6.011 films | 5.512 films |
| Romance | 5.72 films | 3.02 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Pakistani Chef.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 10.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
31 of 31 films
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Self
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas (2026)
Performance score9.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self gives Kumail Nanjiani a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Mack Mallard (voice)
Migration (2023)
Performance score8.0
Migration asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mack Mallard (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self
Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (2025)
Performance score7.8
Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self
Roll Up Your Sleeves (2021)
Performance score7.3
Roll Up Your Sleeves asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Self
Start here. The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas is the clearest statement of what Kumail Nanjiani does — accessible, 84 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kumail at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Roll Up Your Sleeves (2021)
Same director as The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Eternals (2022)
Same director as Roll Up Your Sleeves, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Migration (2023)
Same director as Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Eternals, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (2025)
Keeps the comedy register of Migration but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Nicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Five-Year Engagement
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together
Notably The Kings of Summer
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Sex Tape
Ross Shuman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hell and Back
Jake Szymanski
Director
1 film together
Notably Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Kevin Pollak
Director
1 film together
Notably The Late Bloomer
Richie Keen
Director
1 film together
Notably Fist Fight
Charlie Bean
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lego Ninjago Movie
Michael Dowse
Director
1 film together
Notably Stuber
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Men in Black: International
Michael Showalter
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lovebirds
Alice Mathias
Director
1 film together
Notably Death to 2020
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Dolittle
Linda Mendoza
Director
1 film together
Notably A Night at the Academy Museum
Chloé Zhao
Director
1 film together
Notably Eternals
David Gelb
Director
1 film together
Notably Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return
James L. Brooks
Director
1 film together
Notably Ella McCay
Bill Benz
Director
1 film together
Notably Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts
Bobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Driver's Ed
Eric Appel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Breadwinner
Jorma Taccone
Director
1 film together
Notably Over Your Dead Body
Judd Apatow
Director
1 film together
Notably The Comeback King
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Bill Benz
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kumail Nanjiani: Night ThoughtsLinda Mendoza
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Night at the Academy MuseumJordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Kings of SummerEric Appel
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BreadwinnerBobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Driver's EdDavid Gelb
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's ReturnChloé Zhao
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EternalsStephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DolittleMichael Dowse
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StuberJorma Taccone
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Over Your Dead BodyAlice Mathias
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death to 2020Charlie Bean
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Lego Ninjago MovieMichael Showalter
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The LovebirdsJake Szymanski
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mike and Dave Need Wedding DatesRichie Keen
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fist FightF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Men in Black: InternationalNicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Five-Year EngagementJames L. Brooks
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ella McCayKevin Pollak
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Late BloomerJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sex TapeRoss Shuman
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hell and BackJudd Apatow
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Comeback KingSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Late Bloomer
as Rich
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Attack of the Doc!
as Self
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Kumail Nanjiani has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
23 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Late Bloomer
as Rich
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee
as Self
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas
as Self
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Eternals
as Kingo
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Lego Ninjago Movie
as Jay (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Migration
as Mack Mallard (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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