Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali, born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore on February 16, 1974, is an American actor. His films have grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide, and his accolades include two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2019, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, The New York Times named him among the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century.

Ali was born in Oakland, California, and raised in Hayward by his mother, Willicia Goines. His father, Phillip Gilmore, was a Broadway dancer who died in 1994. Ali attended Saint Mary's College of California on a basketball scholarship, graduating in 1996 with a mass communication degree. After developing an interest in acting through a production of Spunk, he completed an apprenticeship at the California Shakespeare Theater and earned a master's degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2000. He converted to Islam in 2000, adopting the surname Ali, and became an Ahmadi Muslim in 2001.

Initially credited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, he shortened his professional name to Mahershala Ali in 2010. He began his television career with roles in Crossing Jordan and Threat Matrix before securing a breakthrough role in the science fiction series The 4400. His early major film appearances included David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Predators, The Place Beyond the Pines, Free State of Jones, Hidden Figures, and the final two films of The Hunger Games series.

Ali achieved wide acclaim for his portrayal of Juan in Moonlight (2016), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a SAG Award, and a Critics' Choice Award, while becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar. He won a second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, along with a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award, for playing Don Shirley in Green Book (2018). These wins made him the first Black actor to win two Academy Awards in the supporting category and the second Black actor to win multiple acting Oscars.

On television, Ali gained prominence playing Remy Danton in House of Cards, receiving an Emmy nomination. He played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in Luke Cage, starred in the third season of True Detective and the second season of Ramy, both earning him further Emmy nominations, and won an Emmy for executive producing the 2020 program We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest.

Ali voiced Aaron Davis in the animated films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and appeared in the video game Madden NFL 18. Under the rap moniker Prince Ali, he released albums including Corner Ensemble (2006) and Curb Side Service (2007). He is married to actress Amatus Sami-Karim, with whom he has a daughter born in February 2017.