Kunal Nayyar has said he’s spending some of millions he made playing Raj Koothrappali in The Big Bang Theory to anonymously pay random people’s medical bills.
The actor played Raj in all 12 seasons of the former CBS comedy, and reportedly earned $1 million an episode during the show’s peak. Now worth an estimated $45 million, the actor has said that he’s spending some of his fortune secretly paying people’s medical bills while browsing the internet in the dead of night.
“Money has given me greater freedom and the greatest gift is the ability to give back, to change people’s lives,” Nayyar said in an interview with The i Paper published in December that has now gone viral online.
“We also support animal charities because we love dogs,” he continued. “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. It feels like a grace from the universe.”
Nayyar’s charitable giving has gained interest online now in the wake of the GoFundMe campaign set up to support the family of James Van Der Beek, the Dawson’s Creek star who died earlier this month aged just 48. That campaign ended up raising $2.6 million.
The Big Bang Theory ended in 2019 after 279 episodes, but not before it spawned the successful prequel series Young Sheldon — which in turn now has its own spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. A fourth show, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, has begun filming and stars Stuart the comic book store owner.
Image credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
