Kumail Nanjiani is an actor you might best know from his role on Silicon Valley, in which he plays a schlubby tech nerd called Dinesh.
In recent months however, it was clear that Nanjiani was on his way to a proper glow up - showing off a new beard and what one fan called “swole” arms at Comic Con.
Nanjiani well and truly broke the Internet last night when he posted a pair of “thirsty shirtless” pictures online to demonstrate how hard he had worked to get into shape, leaving stars including The Rock, Jameela Jamil, Terry Crews and Queer Eye stars flabbergasted.
The Big Sick star posted them on Monday along with an emotional caption, in which he explained he had got himself into shape specifically for his new role on Marvel’s Eternals alongside Richard Madden and Gemma Chan.
He said, “I found out a year ago I was going to be in Marvel’s Eternals and decided I wanted to transform how I looked. I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world. I’m glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before. It would have been impossible without these resources and time.”
To demonstrate the enormity of Nanjiani’s glow up, here's a shot of the actor in his Silicon Valley days:
And now...
Stars piled into the comments, with some of the most built people in Hollywood chiming in to praise him for his accomplishment. Actor and former WWE wrestler The Rock told Nanjiani, “Extremely hard work. Dense muscle is hard to achieve. Looking great my brother!!”
Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Terry Crews liberally sprinkled fire emojis into his comment and wrote, “DAMN!!!!!! Proud of you!”
Other Marvel heroes and his Eternals co-stars also congratulated him for his achievement. Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista (who is also a former professional wrestler) wrote, “Holy good god! I’d say mission accomplished. 😂 way to get after it brother!”
Madden left a fire and arm emoji, while his co-star Chan wrote, “It feels a bit wrong to say this but.... Daaaaamn.”
She also shouted out Nanjiani’s wife Emily Gordon, who he co-wrote his film The Big Sick with. Chan wrote, “Also congrats @emilyvgordon.”
It was Simu Liu, who is set to star in Marvel’s show Shang-Chi, who won best comment as he simply wrote, “Ok daddy.”
Of course - wherever there’s a major life transformation, you can bet the Queer Eye cast will be nearby. Jonathan Van Ness was as effusive as ever in the comments, revealing Nanjiani had hinted at his full body transformation when he was a guest on JVN’s award-winning recap show Gay of Thrones.
“Yoooosss!!! I remember you telling me about this when we shot GoT - you slayed this and love your caption- good job love!!” he wrote.
Where JVN was over the moon for Nanjiani, Tan France was overwhelmed with emotion and said he was “livid”. He commented, “ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME? I AM LIVID.”
He wasn’t the only one to swear up a storm in the comments, as Dax Shephard wrote, “What the actual f**k?!?! That vascularity!!!”
Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul was at a loss for words and wrote, “Holy. Sh*t.”
Of course, there were a few comedians in the comments who provided the biggest laughs. Big Mouth’s Nick Kroll went with an underwhelmed response, writing, “I don’t understand what the big deal is here. You look fine.”
Charlie Day of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia wrote, “Wait. I’m confused. You haven’t always looked like this?”
There were also stars like John Stamos who declared that they were “in love” with Nanjiani, while others like Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland asked Nanjiani for tips on which nutritionist he’d gone to. The Good Place’s Jameela Jamil also told Nanjiani that he was channeling some “D’Angelo energy.”
Rome and Nanjiani’s eight pack weren’t built in a day, as he revealed the transformation had taken a full year. He thanked a number of people responsible, including personal trainer Grant Roberts (who has worked with Eva Longoria and Marvel star Zachary Levi) who he worked out with initially before moving on to a set of personal trainers and nutritionists on the set of Eternals, who have worked with the likes of Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie.
Nanjiani joked, “I never thought I’d be one of those people who would post a thirsty shirtless, but I’ve worked way too hard for way too long so here we are. You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
He also shouted out his wife Emily Gordon, who he married in 2007, and said, “The biggest thanks goes to @emilyvgordon for putting up with me complaining and talking about only working out and dieting for the last year. I promise I’ll be interesting again some day.”
In response, Gordon wrote, “Worth it.”
