Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali ( ; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore on February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him among the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.

After pursuing an MFA degree from New York University, Ali began his career as a regular on television series 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 role was in the David Fincher-directed fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). He gained wider attention for supporting roles in the final two films of the original The Hunger Games film series, and in House of Cards, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Ali won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as a drug dealer in Moonlight (2016) and as Don Shirley in Green Book (2018), becoming the first black actor to win two Academy Awards in the same category, and the second black actor to win multiple acting Oscars. Ali won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program for executive producing We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (2020).

In 2019, he played a troubled police officer in the third season of the HBO anthology crime series True Detective and in 2020, he starred in the second season of the Hulu comedy-drama series Ramy. He was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for both performances. Ali has also played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in the first season of the Netflix series Luke Cage (2016), and voiced Aaron Davis in the animated films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).

Early life and education Ali was born in Oakland, California, on February 16, 1974 , to Willicia Goines and Phillip Gilmore. His birth name, Mahershalalhashbaz, is from Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the name of the prophet Isaiah's second child (chapter 8, Book of Isaiah). His father left the family when Ali was a toddler to pursue a career as a dancer. He appeared on Broadway He entered SMC on a basketball scholarship and went by the name "Hershal Gilmore" when playing for the SMC Gaels. He 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, which 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 master's degree in 2000. 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.

In 2017, Ali joined the video game Madden NFL 18 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, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Ali starred as Arkansas State Police detective Wayne Hays in the third season of the HBO series True Detective, which premiered on January 13, 2019, in the United States. On Rotten Tomatoes, the site's critical consensus reads, "Driven by Mahershala Ali's mesmerizing performance, True Detectives third season finds fresh perspective by exploring real world events—though it loses some of the series' intriguing strangeness along the way."

At the annual San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Ali was announced as being cast to play the supernatural superhero Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film of the same name. The character was previously played by Wesley Snipes in the pre-MCU Blade trilogy (1998-2004). However, the project underwent difficulty in its development stages for several years due to creative differences and the project was stuck in development hell until Ali confirmed his exit from the project in July 2026.

Music Ali was signed to Bay Area recording label Hieroglyphics Imperium during the late 2000s and recorded rap music under the stage name Prince Ali. In 2006, he released his first album, Corner Ensemble, through his own imprint Eye5 Recordings, followed by Curb Side Service in 2007, but did not tour to promote the album, choosing instead to focus on his acting career. In 2015 Ali appeared on rap artist Hus Kingpin album House Of Cards lending his voice to skits and rapping on the track entitled "House Of Card Gods" using his moniker. In 2019, he made a guest appearance on Keith Murray's album Lord Of The Metaphor 2 alongside Casual and Planet Asia, and in 2020, appeared on Riz Ahmed's album The Long Goodbye.

Influences Ali is a devout fan of hip-hop, naming Hieroglyphics and Souls of Mischief, as well as East Coast rappers like Biggie, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Nas as huge influence. Regarding new rappers, Ali named EarthGang, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Roc Marciano among his favorites. He also said that the song "93 Till Infinity" by Souls of Mischief "helped define his youth" and ranked Illmatic by Nas as the "greatest hip-hop album ever."

Personal life Ali converted to Islam in 2000, changing his surname from Gilmore to Ali. In 2001 he became an Ahmadi Muslim. In interviews, he has described being the subject of racial profiling at airports and banks following the September 11 attacks.

He is married to Amatus Sami-Karim, an actress and musician. Their first child, a daughter, was born in February 2017.

In October 2023, Ali signed the Artists4Ceasefire letter calling for a ceasefire in the 2023 Gaza war. In January 2024, he showed further support for Palestinians in Gaza by reciting the poem "Longing for Haifa" by Palestinian poet Mohammed al-Qudwa in a video for social media, and encouraging his followers to donate to al-Qudwa's fundraiser so that the poet and his family could leave the Gaza Strip. In June 2025, he called for the release of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Discography Studio albums Corner Ensemble (2006) Curb Side Service (2007)

Filmography Film

Television Year Title Role NotesRef. 2001–2002 Crossing Jordan Dr. Trey Sanders 19 episodesCredited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali 2002 Haunted Alex Dalcour Episode: "Abby"Credited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali NYPD Blue Rashard Coleman Episode: "Das Boots"Credited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali 2003 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Tombs' Security Guard Episode: "Lucky Strike"Credited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali Episode: "Big Stones" 2003–2004 Threat Matrix Jelani Harper 15 episodes 2004–2007 Richard Tyler 28 episodesCredited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali 2009 Lie to Me Det. Don Hughes Episode: "Do No Harm"Credited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Mark Foster Episode: "Unstable" 2010 The Wronged Man Calvin Willis Television film All Signs of Death Gabe Unsold TV pilot 2011–2012 Treme Anthony King 6 episodesCredited as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali Alphas Nathan Clay 12 episodes 2012 Alcatraz Clarence Montgomery Episode: "Clarence Montgomery" 2013–2016 House of Cards Remy Danton Main role; seasons 1–4 (33 episodes)2016 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver City Hall Informant Episode: "Journalism" Luke Cage Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes Main role; season 1 (6 episodes) 2017 Comrade Detective Coach Voice roleEpisode: "Two Films for One Ticket" 2018 Room 104 Franco Episode: "Shark" 2019 True Detective Wayne Hays Main role; season 3 (8 episodes) 2020 Ramy Sheikh Ali Malik Recurring role; season 2 (6 episodes) 2021 Invincible Titan Voice role; season 1 (2 episodes) 2023 Chimp Empire Narrator 4 episodes

Video game Year Title Role Ref. 2017 Madden NFL 18 Cutter Wade

Awards

Ali received Primetime Emmy and SAG Award nominations for his role in House of Cards (2013–2016). Ali was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for playing Wayne Hays in the third season of the HBO crime anthology True Detective (2019). The next year, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program for producing We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (2020), and received another Emmy nomination for his role in the second season of Ramy (2020). He received nominations for the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in the science fiction romance Swan Song (2021). His narration of the Netflix documentary Chimp Empire (2023) earned him his fifth Emmy nomination.

Ali received critical acclaim and won Academy Awards and SAG Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his performances as a drug dealer in the drama Moonlight (2016) and as Don Shirley in the biographical comedy-drama Green Book (2018), as well as a BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for the latter. He is the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar, as well as the second black actor (after Denzel Washington) to win multiple acting Oscars and the only black actor to win twice in the same acting category.