'Silicon Valley' 's Kumail Nanjiani on His Parents 'Grassroots' Promotion for His Film 'The Big Sick'

Kumail Nanjiani's parents took an unorthodox approach to promoting their son's latest film, the hit romantic-dramedy The Big Sick

Kumail Nanjiani‘s parents took an unorthodox approach to promoting their son’s latest film, the hit romantic-dramedy The Big Sick, which is based on their family.

“They’ve just been going and sitting in movie theaters and saying ‘hi’ to people,” the Silicon Valley star explained on the red carpet ahead of Sunday night’s Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

“They’re really trying to get the grassroots thing going,” Nanjiani, 39, joked to PEOPLE’s JD Heyman and Lola Ogunnaike, host of Entertainment Weekly: The Show on PeopleTV.

While The Big Sick dramatizes a loving if fraught relationship between Nanjiani and his mom and dad, he said on the red carpet that they have been ultimately supportive of Hollywood career — even if it wasn’t their first choice.

“I don’t think anybody like, ‘You’re not going to be a doctor, you’re going got be an actor,’ ” he said. “That doesn’t happen, but they’re very excited now.”

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Dozens of A-listers have descended on Hollywood for TV’s biggest night, the 2017 Emmy Awards. Some of the biggest shows will be battling it out for the night’s top awards, including The Crown, Better Call Saul, The Handmaid’s Tale, House of Cards, Stranger Things, This Is Us and Westworld for outstanding drama series and Atlanta, black-ish, Master of None, Modern Family, Silicon Valley, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Veep for outstanding comedy series.

Watch the full episode of PEOPLE & Entertainment Weekly Red Carpet Live, streaming now on PeopleTV. Go to People.com/peopletv, or download the app on your favorite streaming device.

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Other big awards to watch include outstanding limited series (which pits Big Little Lies, The Night Of, Feud: Bette and Joan, Genius and Fargo against one another) and the major acting categories like outstanding lead actress in a limited series or TV movie and lead actor in a drama series.

The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Stephen Colbert, are airing live on CBS from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET.