King Bumi From Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Is Unrecognizable In Real Life
While Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" makes some major changes to certain aspects of the original animated series, it also brings plenty of the characters fans fell in love with to live action, including King Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar), the eccentric, earthbending king of Omashu, who appears in Episode 4, "Into the Dark," although it's understandable if it takes viewers a while to realize who's underneath the "old man" makeup and white hair.
Ambudkar has an impressive filmography, and many people have likely seen him in something before, even if they wouldn't know it. He's much younger than the 112-year-old he portrays, having had roles in films such as a cappella singer Donald in "Pitch Perfect," pet sitter Jern in "Brittany Runs a Marathon," and developer Mouser in "Free Guy." February's been a good month for him too — "Ghosts," the CBS sitcom he's a lead on, debuted its Season 3.
Utkarsh Ambudkar wants fans to give Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender a chance
Naturally, it took a lot for Utkarsh Ambudkar to look the part of a centenarian while still being able to show off his earthbending skills. Back in 2022, the actor spoke with CBR about all the effort that went into getting the character just right. "It was like six hours in a chair transforming into King Bumi and I think people are really gonna be pleased when they see the series," he said.
While it's not unusual for actors to spend a ton of time in a makeup chair for a role, it's clear that a lot of people worked hard to make the series a reality. Understandably, however, some fans of the original series are skeptical — after all, the first reactions to "Avatar: The Last Airbender" were pretty mixed. Ambudkar just hopes people give it a shot, especially when it comes to the younger performers.
Shortly before Season 1's release, Ambudkar told CinemaBlend, "Gordon [Cormier, who plays Aang] showed up, [he] gave 110%, [he] rehearsed with me, he and I were like gassing each other up supporting each other, like that whole crew was just, Kiawentiio [who plays Katara] and Ian [Ousley, who plays Sokka], very sweet, lovely young people who really give a s***." As for Ambudkar, his dedication to portraying King Bumi is right there on-screen, bushy white eyebrows and all.