Who is Mahershala Ali? | Mahershala Ali Biography and Wiki
Mahershala Ali (born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore) is an American actor and rapper. He rose to prominence after appearing as a cast member of the film, Moonlight of 2016, in which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his moving and nuanced performance as the fatherly drug dealer Juan and for his portrayal of Don Shirley in the comedy-drama film Green Book of 2018. This made him the first black actor to win two Academy Awards in the same category. In 2019, he played the lead role of a troubled police officer in the third season of the HBO anthology crime series True Detective. In 2020, he starred in the second season of the Hulu comedy-drama series Ramy.
Mahershala Ali Age and Birthday
Ali was born on February 16, 1974, in Hayward, California, United States of America. He celebrates his birthday on February 16th every year. Ali will be 47 years old on Feb. 16th, 2021.
Mahershala Ali Height and Weight
Ali is a man of very tall stature. He stands at a height of 6 feet and 1.5 (1.87 m). He also weighs 187 lbs (85 kgs).
Mahershala Ali Education
Ali went to St. Mary’s College of California (SMC) in Moraga, California, where he graduated in 1996 with a degree in mass communication. He entered SMC with a basketball scholarship and went by the name “Hershal Gilmore” when playing for the SMC Gaels.
Ali became disenchanted with the idea of a sports career because of the treatment given to the team’s athletes, and developed an interest in acting, particularly after taking part in a staging of Spunk. This later landed him an apprenticeship at the California Shakespeare Theater following graduation. After a sabbatical year working for Gavin Report, he enrolled in New York University’s graduate acting program at Tisch School of the Arts, earning his MFA degree in 2000.
Mahershala Ali Parents
Ali is the son of Phillip Gilmore (1956–1994), an actor who appeared on Broadway and Willicia Goines (born 1957), a Christian, an ordained Baptist minister, who raised him in Hayward, California. His birth name, Mahershalalhashbaz is the name of a prophetic child in chapter 8 of the Biblical Book of Isaiah.
However, In 2000, he converted to Islam, changed his surname from Gilmore to Ali, and joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. According to various interviews, he has recounted numerous problems he has encountered at airports, with banks and otherwise in everyday life as an American Muslim since the September 11 attacks–a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Ali had considered shortening his name for a while, saying that using his full first name was “a crazy thing to do considering that we’re in Hollywood”, although he had never been pressured by managers or agents to change it. He decided to use a shorter version of his first name after being told that his full name was too long to fit on the poster for the film The Place Beyond the Pines. He did not want the alternative of “M. Ali” to represent himself on the poster, so he chose to adopt the shorter version of his name.
He elaborated in an interview to Vanity Fair in October 2016:
I think if you have any desire to be a leading man or to really carry some of these stories, there’s this relationship that has to be cultivated with an audience. People have to be able to say your name. I didn’t want a couple of syllables to get in the way of me having the fullest experience as an actor.”
Mahershala Ali Wife
Speaking of his personal life, Ali is married to Amatus Sami-Karim, an actress and musician, since 2013. Sami-Karim calls herself a “performative conceptual artist.” With a degree from the Tisch School of the Arts and a year of acting at RADA, she has done film compositions, an EP, music for the play “Sunset Baby,” and most recently sound design and music for the off-Broadway play “The Homecoming Queen.” She was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her work.
Moreover, Sami-Karim feels strongly about promoting women’s rights, rights for minorities, gun control (which she says is a personal issue for her), and voting rights, among others, on her social media.
Mahershala Ali Children
Ali and Sami-Karim welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Bari Najma Ali in 2017. Actually, Sami-Karim was pregnant during awards season and gave birth four days before Ali won an Oscar. Ali called her a “soldier” and said she had supported him all throughout the process.
Mahershala Ali Measurements and Facts
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Mahershala Ali.
- Full Name: Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore
- Age: 48 years (2020)
- Date of Birth: February 16, 1974
- Place of Birth: Hayward, California, U.S.
- Education: St. Mary’s College of California, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
- Birthday: February 16th
- Nationality: American
- Father’s Name: Phillip Gilmore (1956–1994)
- Mother’s Name: Willicia Goines (born 1957)
- Siblings: Not Available
- Spouse: Amatus Sami-Karim (m. 2013)
- Children: 1
- Height: 6 feet and 1.5 (1.87 m)
- Weight: 187 lbs (85 kgs)
- Profession: Actor and rapper
- Known For: Moonlight, Green Book, True Detective, Ramy
- Net worth: est $8 million
Mahershala Ali Career
After his graduation from the New York University, Ali began his career as a regular on television series, for example, Crossing Jordan (2001–2002) and Threat Matrix (2003–2004), before his breakthrough role as Richard Tyler in the science fiction series The 4400 (2004–2007). His first major film release was in the David Fincher-coordinated fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).
Mahershala Ali Hunger Games
He gained wider attention for his supporting role in the Netflix political thriller series House of Cards (2013–2016), as Boggs in the final two films of The Hunger Games film series, and as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in the Luke Cage series.
He is known for his portrayal of Remy Danton in the Netflix series House of Cards, Cornell Stokes in Marvel’s Luke Cage, Colonel Boggs in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, and Tizzy in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
His first major film role was that of Tizzy Weathers in the 2008 David Fincher-coordinated romantic fantasy drama film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Other notable films include Predators, The Place Beyond the Pines, Free State of Jones, Hidden Figures, and as Boggs in The Hunger Games series.
For his performance as coach and street pharmacist Juan in the drama film Moonlight (2016), Ali got universal acclaim from critics and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the SAG Award and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, and got a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award nomination. His win at the 89th Academy Awards made him the principal Muslim actor to win an Oscar.
In 2017 Ali joined the video game Madden NFL 18’s story mode Longshot, in which he played Cutter Wade, the father of protagonist Devin. He played Don Shirley in the 2018 film Green Book, receiving his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He won Golden Globe award in 2019 for best-supporting actor for his role, as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Ali starred as Arkansas State Police investigator Wayne Hays in the third season of the HBO series True Detective, which debuted on January 13, 2019, in the United States. At the annual San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Ali was announced as being cast to play the supernatural superhuman Blade in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation of the character, which was recently played by Wesley Snipes.
Speaking of his musical career, Ali was signed to Bay Area recording label Hieroglyphics Imperium during the late 2000s and recorded rap music as Prince Ali. His album, Curb Side Service, was released in 2007 but did not tour to promote the album, choosing instead to focus on his acting career.
Mahershala Ali Piano
Ali gives a very good impression of being an exceptional jazz pianist in Green Book, the controversial winner of Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards. Ali, who picked up an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, plays the real-life black composer and classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley. The film follows Shirley’s battle with racism during his concert tour of the US Deep South in the early 1960s.
But the real musicianship comes from Kris Bowers, the extraordinary 29-year-old American composer who wrote the film score for Green Book and doubled Ali’s piano playing. Bowers, an up-and-coming composer in Hollywood, previously collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West before writing the music for the Netflix series Dear White People. He has been playing the piano since he was four and worked with Ali to improve his posture and movement – not just at the piano, but throughout his scenes in the film.
“We worked together for about three months before they started shooting,” Bowers told Vulture. “[Mahershala] always said, ‘When you look at a ballet dancer on the subway, you know they’re a ballet dancer by how they’re standing.’ So he wanted to even look like a pianist when he wasn’t at the piano.
“A lot of it was just talking about posture and making sure that the choreography of how he was playing was correct and all that,” he added. “But in our first lesson, we focused on just playing a major scale. We were only supposed to meet for an hour, and we met for three hours because he was so glued on playing this scale for three hours straight.”
Speaking to W Magazine, Ali said: “The goal, honestly, was not to learn how to play Chopin in three months. That’s not happening. But it was to give me an opportunity to really sit at that piano and discover how that would inform the rest of my performance.”
Mahershala Ali Alita: Battle Angel
Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American epic cyberpunk action film based on Japanese manga artist Yukito Kishiro’s 1990s series Gunnm and its 1993 original video animation adaptation Battle Angel. Ali portrays as Vector, an influential Factory entrepreneur with criminal connections who also serves as Nova’s proxy.
Mahershala Ali Moonlight
Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins and stars Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali as Juan, a drug dealer who becomes a father figure to Chiron
Mahershala Ali Movies and Tv Shows
Film
- 2003: Making Revolution
- 2008: Umi’s Heart
: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 2009: Crossing Over
- 2010: Predators
- 2012: The Place Beyond the Pines
- 2013: Go for Sisters
- 2014: Supremacy
: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 - 2015: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
- 2016: Kicks
: Gubagude Ko
: Free State of Jones
: The Realest Real
: Moonlight
: Hidden Figures - 2017: Roxanne Roxanne
- 2018: Green Book
: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - 2019: Alita: Battle Angel
- TBA Blade
Television
- 2001–2002: Crossing Jordan
- 2002: Haunted
: NYPD Blue - 2003: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
: The Handler - 2003–2004: Threat Matrix
- 2004–2007: The 4400
- 2009: Lie to Me
: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - 2010: The Wronged Man
: All Signs of Death - 2011: Lights Out
- 2011–2012: Treme
: Alphas - 2012: Alcatraz
- 2013–2016: House of Cards
- 2016: Luke Cage
- 2017: Comrade Detective
- 2018: Room 104
- 2019: True Detective
- 2020: Race for the White House
: Ramy
: Invincible
Mahershala Ali Salary
Details about Ali’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much he makes will be updated as soon as it is available.
Mahershala Ali Net Worth
Ali has enjoyed a long career in the entertainment industry. Through proceeds from his work as an actor and rapper, he has been able to accumulate a huge fortune. Ali is estimated to have a net worth of about $8 million.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mahershala Ali
Who is Mahershala Ali?
Ali is a famous actor who gained extensive recognition after appearing as a cast member of Moonlight and Green Book.
How old is Mahershala Ali?
Ali is an American national born on February 16, 1974, in Hayward, California, U.S.
How tall is Mahershala Ali?
Ali stands at a height of 6 feet and 1.5 (1.87 m).
Is Mahershala Ali married?
Yes, he is married to Amatus Sami-Karim. They got married in 2013 and together they have one child.
How much is Mahershala Ali worth?
Ali has an approximate net worth of $8 million. This amount has been accrued from his leading roles in the entertainment industry.
How much does Mahershala Ali make?
Details about Ali’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much he makes will be updated as soon as it is available.
Where does Ali live?
Because of security reasons, Ali has not shared his precise location of residence. We will immediately update this information if we get the location and images of his house.
Is Ali dead or alive?
Ali is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.
Where is Ali Now?
Ali is still an active participant in the creative entertainment industry, he is a cast member of the drama film Moonlight (2016). Watch the trailer below.
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