When he's not busy getting absurdly ripped and starring in movies, Marvel's Eternals actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani is a capital "G" gamer. In an interview with IGN, Nanjiani discussed how he spends his minimal free time between projects and press interviews playing games on his PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) plays many video games and loves bringing his PS5 and Xbox Series X with him when he travels for work! #Eternals pic.twitter.com/gspLBTiQvr
— IGN (@IGN) November 5, 2021
What's at the top of Nanjiani's to-play list? The actor is currently working his way through Deathloop, the time-looping immersive sim/FPS from the creators of Dishonored and Prey.
"I'm savoring it," Nanjiani said. "I haven't beaten it yet but I think I'm getting closer. I'm traveling for press and I'm like 'I need to beat this game in the next two days.'"
Nanjiani also brings his PS5 or his Xbox Series X with him while he travels for film roles. During quarantine, Nanjiani said he played Gears of War's horde mode every Wednesday with friends, and that Death Stranding and Red Dead Redemption 2 were his primary games throughout filming of Eternals.
Video games have been a sizeable part of Nanjiani's identity as a comedian and actor, which makes plenty of sense when you remember he has a starring role on HBO's Silicon Valley and earned a computer science degree in college. In his 2013 Comedy Central special, Nanjiani discussed a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer level based on the Pakistani city of Karachi, his hometown. He also pointed out how the game's level designers used the Arabic language on street signs, rather than the actual language of Pakistan, which is Urdu.
In past interviews with other outlets, Nanjiani has discussed how he and his father would buy bootleg copies of Commodore 64 games from people who advertised in a local paper. He's also discussed writing video game fanfiction as a kid after playing through Golden Axe on the Sega Genesis. He's occasionally voiced video game characters, like the salarian Jarun Tann in Mass Effect: Andromeda or a minor character in Telltale's The Walking Dead's season two.
You can see Nanjiani embrace his own inner hero in Marvel's Eternals, where he plays Eternal-turned-Bollywood star Kingo Sunen. You can see a breakdown of every Eternals character, their origins, and powers here or see what the ending of Eternals means for the future of the MCU.
(Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/wouldn't mind playing a few rounds of COD with Mr. Nanjiani.