All are successful actors.
All happen to be South Asian American.
Apparently that’s enough for people to get them mixed up.
Kumail Nanjiani recently quipped on Twitter that he keeps getting confused with other Brown actors.
A day may come when I am not mistaken for another brown actor. But it is not this day.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) March 8, 2018
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recently honored Nanjiani with a nomination for best original screenplay for his hit movie, The Big Sick.
He also starred in that movie and is a regular in the HBO series, Silicon Valley.
Kunal Nayyar of the mega hit CBS TV series The Big Bang Theory apparently can relate to what Nanjiani is going through.
Every time I get recognized for you I think “man I wish it were true:)”
— Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) March 8, 2018
Nanjiani is Pakistani American. Nayyar is Indian British.
Kal Penn has worked in the Obama White House, starred in the movie franchise Harold and Kumar and is currently seen on ABC’s Designated Survivor.
Apparently people can’t get him straight either.
I have taken credit for both of your accolades in the last 2 weeks so I guess I owe you each a photo, half a beer, and an awkward extended hug
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 8, 2018
We can add comedian Hari Kondabolu to the mix too. Kondabolu recently was seen in the documentary, The Problem with Apu.
The time a fan of MY podcast with Kamau, drew fan art & thought you & me were the same person. pic.twitter.com/d0rreSQFyf
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) March 9, 2018
But Sarah Silverman summed it up best.
I like @SarahKSilverman pic.twitter.com/wPzAKhq2n2
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) March 11, 2018
The Brown actor dilemma apparently also applies to East Asians in different professions.
Olympic ice skater Mirai Nagasu was recently confused with Kelly Marie Tran of Star Wars fame at the Oscars, recently reported our partner, YOMYOMF.
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RE: South Asian actors keep getting confused with each other: Not new. Been going on since we first came to this land of opportunity. We Asians have been dealing with this forever as in ‘you all look the same’. My co-director and I (Eth-Noh-Tec) Created a panel of 8 nationally known Asian American Storyteller’s at the National Storytelling Conference with each presenting our stories of times we’ve experienced racism. We sat all in one line in front of the audience. At the end, we stood up next to each other closely and asked ‘we all look the same? Not!’ And gave them a chance to view us real hard!! Lots of laughter.