The 44-year-old opened up in a new interview about being one of the world’s highest-paid TV actors amid the height of The Big Bang Theory<\/a>‘s success, telling The i Paper<\/a> that having “wealth” doesn’t “weigh heavy” on him.<\/p>\n Instead, he explained to the U.K. outlet, “money has given me greater freedom and the greatest gift is the ability to give back, to change people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Nayyar and his wife, Neha Kapur<\/a>, fund college scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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\u2019 medical bills.\u00a0That\u2019s my masked vigilante thing!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, no, money doesn\u2019t feel like a burden,” added the actor, who stars as Mr. Sood, a modern-day Scrooge, in a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol called Christmas Karma. “It feels like a grace from the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n Sonja Flemming\/CBS via Getty <\/p>\n Kunal Nayyar in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ on CBS<\/p>\n Nayyar \u2014 who played astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali in The Big Bang Theory \u2014 was eventually earning an estimated $1 million per episode amid the hit CBS comedy series’ run from 2007 to 2019. He was ranked by Forbes as one of the highest-paid TV actors in both 2015<\/a> and 2018<\/a> (with earnings of $20 million and $23.5 million, respectively).<\/p>\n While Nayyar acknowledged that he is in a fortunate position to give back in such a meaningful way, he told The i Paper that everyone can find a way to help and lift up others.<\/p>\n \u201cRight 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there is no world peace if your neighbor comes to your door wanting some sugar\u00a0for their tea, and you lock it against them and say \u2018get away,\u2019 \u201d he continued, citing a lesson from Dickens’ classic holiday tale: \u201cNo one is going to come and change the world for you. You have to do it for yourself.”<\/p>\n Jeff Spicer\/Getty<\/p>\n Kunal Nayyar at the world premiere of ‘Christmas Karma’ in London on Nov. 12, 2025<\/p>\n Elsewhere during his conversation with The i Paper, Nayyar \u2014 who was born in London and raised in India from the age of 3 \u2014 spoke about celebrating Christmas while living in New Delhi.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were an anglicised family,\u201d he said. \u201cI went to an English-speaking school where we studied Dickens and Shakespeare. So at Christmas we had a skinny fake tree \u2014 you\u2019re not getting real Christmas trees in India \u2014 and a skinny Indian uncle with a big belly dressed as Father Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n His family also celebrated Hindu Diwali and Muslim Eid.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of being Indian is celebrating all religions. It\u2019s our spiritual nature to allow that there is space for\u00a0all of us,\u201d Nayyar told the outlet.<\/p>\n TrueBritEntertainment<\/p>\n Kunal Nayyar in ‘Christmas Karma’ (2025)<\/p>\n Released on Nov. 14, Christmas Karma also stars Hugh Bonneville<\/a>, Eva Longoria<\/a>, Billy Porter<\/a> and Boy George<\/a>. In the movie, Nayyar’s Mr. Sood and his family are among the 80,000 Asians forced out of Uganda in 1972 by Idi Amin. His character’s obsession with becoming successful and making money is sparked by a desperate need for security and acceptance.<\/p>\n He told The i Paper that he was ultimately drawn to the role because “this film is so much bigger than me wanting to play a character; this is a story about a marginalized community\u00a0that needs to be told.<\/p>\n![\"Sonja](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fd2803f7249398f6c7f45348fcb72252.jpeg\"\/)
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