Rami Malek

Rami Said Malek (; , ; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He gained recognition for portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody, for which he won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2019, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category. He played computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Born in Torrance, California, to Egyptian immigrant parents of Coptic background, he studied theater before acting in plays in New York City. He had supporting roles in film and television, including the Fox Broadcasting Company sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007), the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012), and the Night at the Museum film trilogy (2006–2014). Since his breakthrough, Malek has starred in the crime film The Little Things (2021), played the main antagonist Lyutsifer Safin in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021), portrayed David L. Hill in Christopher Nolan's biographical film Oppenheimer (2023), starred as a Central Intelligence Agency cryptographer in the spy film The Amateur (2025), and starred as psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in the film Nuremberg (2025).

Early life and education

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There's no first-generation, or second-generation removed. I am Egyptian. I grew up listening to Egyptian music. I loved Umm Kulthum. I loved Omar Sharif. These are my people. I feel so gorgeously tied to the culture and the human beings that exist there. I acknowledge that I have a different experience, but I am so enamoured and intertwined with Egyptian culture. It is the fabric of who I am. salign = right — Malek in September 2018 on May 12, 1981, to Egyptian immigrant parents Nelly Abdel-Malek and Said Malek (d. 2006). They settled in Sherman Oaks, mostly staying in the San Fernando Valley. His father sold insurance and was a travel agent, while his mother Nelly worked as an accountant. Malek was raised in his family's Coptic Orthodox Christian faith, and spoke Egyptian Arabic at home until the age of four. He has an identical twin brother Sami, who is younger by four minutes. His older sister, Jasmine, is an ER doctor. His parents emphasized to their children the importance of preserving their Egyptian roots, and his father would wake him up in the middle of the night to talk on the phone to his Arabic-speaking extended family in Samalut.

As a first-generation American, Malek found it difficult to assimilate during his childhood because of cultural differences, even spending most of his childhood having his name mispronounced: "It only took me 'til high school where I found the confidence to tell everybody, 'No, my name is Rami.' It's a very upsetting thing to think about, that I didn't have the confidence to correct anyone at that point."

Malek attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he was in the same class as actress Rachel Bilson. Actress Kirsten Dunst also attended the school and shared a musical theater class with him. His parents harbored dreams of him becoming a lawyer, so he joined the debate team in his freshman year. Reflecting on the moment, he said, "On stage I'm having this moment with my dad with a bunch of other people [in the audience], but then I thought, 'Wow, something really special is happening here.'" It was the first time he saw his father become emotional, During the summer before his senior year, he interned at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, where he became an acquaintance of playwright August Wilson. Of his decision to attend the University of Evansville theater program, he said, "The level of talent at the University of Evansville was formidable from faculty to fellow actors. There's a commitment and dedication that the theater program required that unearthed a work ethic I didn't know I had." He completed his BFA in 2003. The college later honored him with a 2017 Young Alumnus Award, given to those who have "achieved personal success and contribute services to their community and to UE".

Career 2004–2009: Early work

After his college graduation, Malek wanted to attend grad school for theater; with college debt growing, he moved to New York, where he shared a one-bedroom Lower East Side apartment with friends who were also in the theater community. His network of friends included writers and directors, many of whom would come together to form the Slant Theatre Project, and they would perform their own plays around the city. Despite sending his resume to production houses, he found it difficult to get work as an actor, which led to bouts of depression and a loss of confidence.

After a year and a half, Malek finally received a call from casting director Mara Casey. She asked to speak to his agent. When he confessed he did not have one, she told him to get one first. He also voiced "additional characters" for the video game Halo 2, for which he was uncredited. Later that year, he appeared in an episode of Medium and was cast in the prominent recurring role of Kenny, on the Fox comedy series The War at Home. Kenny's "coming out" story earned accolades from GLAAD. In 2006, Malek made his feature film debut as Pharaoh Ahkmenrah in the comedy Night at the Museum. He reprised this role in the sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).

2010–2015: Supporting roles

Malek returned to television in 2010 in a recurring role as the suicide bomber Marcos Al-Zacar on the eighth season of the Fox series 24. Growing weary of playing characters he called "acceptable terrorists", he instructed his agent to reject any role that painted Arabs or Middle Easterners in a "bad light". After the intensity of filming The Pacific, he chose to leave Hollywood and lived briefly in Argentina, though he says it was unsuccessful, and he has "since found better ways of coping". During the filming of The Pacific, Malek received a letter from executive producer Tom Hanks praising Malek's performance. Hanks then cast him as college student Steve Dibiasi in the feature film Larry Crowne, released in July 2011.

Those opportunities led to Malek securing supporting roles in a series of major films. In August 2010, it was announced that he had been cast as the "Egyptian coven" vampire, Benjamin, in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. In 2013 he played Nate, a new employee at a group home for youths, in the indie film Short Term 12, opposite Brie Larson. He appeared in two Spike Lee films during this period, the 2012 remake of the South Korean film Oldboy, in a part that was trimmed significantly, and later in the crowdfunded picture Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. The two men have remained friends.

2015–present: Breakthrough and acclaim Malek and Christian Slater (left) speaking as part of the Mr. Robot panel during the 2015 PaleyFest Screenwriter Sam Esmail had auditioned over 100 actors to play the lead character of Elliot Alderson (a mentally unstable computer-hacker) for a show he was developing. Having failed to cast the part, he considered re-writing the character altogether. The role drew immediate acclaim from critics, with USA Today calling it his "breakout performance". Entertainment Weekly called Malek's "magnetic performance" the "best reason" to watch the show. Backstage remarked that Malek "anchored the drama" and that his "spin" on the anti-hero trope "promises a fresh direction for prestige TV". His performance earned him nominations for the Dorian Award, Satellite Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. He won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was the first non-white actor to win an Emmy in that category since 1998. The show concluded in December 2019 with its fourth season, for which Malek received a third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama.

Though he was among 3000 actors considered to play Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Malek had his first starring role in Buster's Mal Heart, which premiered in September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. In it, Malek plays a man who leads two lives, one as Jonah and another as Buster. Casting him in the role before his success with Mr. Robot, the director, Sarah Adina Smith, said, "I had no idea how huge and adored he would become". Malek next starred as Louis Dega in Papillon, a remake of the 1973 film, co-starring Charlie Hunnam. It premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and had a limited box office release in August 2018. In 2017, Malek joined the cast of the Netflix animated comedy series BoJack Horseman (season 4), voicing the character Flip McVicker, a writer who does not trust email.

In 2018, Malek portrayed Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. The film premiered in London on October 23, 2018, and became a major box office success, grossing over $900 million worldwide on a production budget of about $50 million. It became the sixth highest-grossing film of 2018 worldwide, and the highest-grossing musical biographical film of all time. Though the film received mixed reviews overall, Malek's performance was acclaimed by critics. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. In preparation for the role as Mercury, Malek moved to London where he worked with a dialect coach and a movement coach, and took piano and singing lessons. This included watching the 1985 Live Aid concert video on YouTube at least 1,500 times to perfect his performance for the film. He also had to get used to speaking and singing with a set of false teeth that mimicked Mercury's overbite.

In December 2018, it was announced that Malek would produce and star in an eight-episode podcast called Blackout. Scott Conroy was the writer of the podcast, a thriller about a small-town radio DJ who must "fight to protect his family and community from a coordinated attack that destroys the power grid and upends modern civilization". The podcast debuted with two episodes on March 19, 2019, with six subsequent episodes premiering weekly. It won the 2020 Webby Award for Best Scripted Podcast (Fiction). Malek also voiced Chee-Chee the gorilla in Dolittle, starring Robert Downey Jr.; the film was produced in 2018 and released in January 2020. In May 2019, Malek joined the cast of the crime thriller The Little Things, opposite Denzel Washington and Jared Leto. The film was released on January 29, 2021. On April 25, 2019, Malek was cast as the main villain in the James Bond film No Time to Die; he plays the "supervillain" Lyutsifer Safin. Principal photography on the film began in April 2019 and wrapped that October. It had an initial release date of April 2020, but, due to COVID-19 related delays, was moved to October 2021. To support the release of the film, Malek hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2021.

Malek was part of the all-star ensemble cast in David O. Russell's Amsterdam; the film was produced in early 2021 and released in October 2022. In December 2021, it was announced that Malek was joining the cast of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. In it he portrayed physicist David L. Hill. The film was released on July 21, 2023. In 2025, he starred in the thriller film The Amateur, as well as starring as U.S. Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in the historical drama Nuremberg.

In 2026, Malek starred in Ira Sachs's The Man I Love, to which he received critical acclaim for his performance as Jimmy George, a gay actor facing AIDS in the late 80s.

Acting style

quoted = 1 People didn't know where to place me with my ethnicity, and never was I ever up for leading anything. The fact that Rami Malek got to play the lead character, called Elliot Alderson, in Mr. Robot was somewhat of a coup, I think. I never saw that possibility when I was younger. salign = right — Malek to The New Yorker, October 2018 He has remarked that he enjoys the auditioning process, sees it as a "proving ground to test things out", and has created so many diverse characters for auditions that he wishes he could collect them as a package to show to others. However, following his success with Mr. Robot, he began to be regarded as a "leading man", though an "unconventional" one. In 2017, Malek accepted an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among 774 new members invited as part of the academy's efforts to diversify its members after criticism over the lack of diversity of the 88th Academy Awards.

To prepare for a role, he describes an initial stage of panic, followed by research into the character to create a world for that person. This includes finding music he thinks the character would listen to, as well as creating and imagining memories for that person to the point he has to perform as them. The actor has also been noted for his physical transformations to play his characters. He lost significant weight to play Elliot Alderson, Freddie Mercury, and Snafu Shelton, where Tom Hanks required that he maintain between six and eight-percent body fat. He noted the most valuable lesson from that experience was learning to distance himself from his characters, otherwise he would not have been able to take on complex roles later in his career, like Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot.

He has also garnered attention for his fashion sense, particularly for his bold color choices and "quirky touches". He was chosen (along with Boy George and A$AP Rocky) to be part of Dior Homme's Spring 2017 campaign, and the face of Saint Laurent's Spring/Summer 2020 campaign. GQ Middle East launched in October 2018 with Malek on its first cover. Fashion commentators have included him on their "best-dressed" lists, often at red-carpet events. Placing him at number 29 on its list of Best Dressed Men 2019, GQ called his looks, "neat, elegant and perfectly put together... experimental on the surface, but underneath they're also surprisingly approachable". Ilaria Urbinati is his stylist.

Over time, Malek's prominence in the industry has grown. In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter included him on Next Gen 2015, its annual list of stars who are 35 and under and "on the rise". Time magazine named Malek one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019 under the category of Artists.

The actor has lent his support to charities, such as the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation and the ACLU. In September 2018, Malek started working with the (RED) organization after being inspired by his Freddie Mercury role. As an ambassador to raise awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS, During his visit, Malek said, "To collectively come together and tackle, you know, arguably one of the largest, most horrific diseases anyone has ever known. That can happen right now. I can't think of anything that I'd rather be a part of, more than fulfilling any personal dream or aspiration".

Malek is Coptic, and went to a Coptic Church as a child.

In 2009, Malek moved into a house in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, alongside his brother. He purchased a neighboring house in 2021. From 2017 to 2023, Malek was in a relationship with actress Lucy Boynton. From 2023 to 2025, Malek was in a relationship with actor Emma Corrin.

Acting credits Film

Year Title Role Notes 2006 Night at the Museum Pharaoh Ahkmenrah 2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 2011 Larry Crowne Steve Dibiasi 2012 Battleship U.S. Navy Lieutenant Hill Benjamin Clark Massey 2013 Ain't Them Bodies Saints Will Short Term 12 Nate Oldboy Matt Browning 2014 Need for Speed Finn Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Pharaoh Ahkmenrah Da Sweet Blood of Jesus Seneschal Higginbottom 2016 Buster's Mal Heart Buster 2017 Papillon Louis Dega 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury 2021 Jim Baxter No Time to Die Lyutsifer Safin 2022 Amsterdam Tom Voze 2023 Oppenheimer David Hill

Television

Year Title Role Notes 2004 Gilmore Girls Andy Episode: "In the Clamor and the Clangor" 2005 Over There Hassan 2 episodes Medium Timothy Kercher Episode: "Time Out of Mind" 2005–2007 The War at Home Kenny Al-Bahir Recurring role, 21 episodes 2010 24 Marcos Al-Zacar 3 episodes The Pacific Merriell "Snafu" Shelton 6 episodes 2012 Alcatraz Webb Porter Episode: "Webb Porter" The Legend of Korra Tahno (voice) 3 episodes 2014 Believe Dr. Adam Terry Episode: "Pilot" 2015–2019 Mr. Robot Elliot Alderson Main role; also producer (seasons 3–4) 2019–2021 Blackout Simon Itani podcast series - 16 episodes 2017–2018 BoJack Horseman Flip McVicker (voice) 10 episodes 2021 Saturday Night Live Himself (host) Episode "Rami Malek/Young Thug"

Theatre

Video games Year Title Voice role

2004 Halo 2 Additional voices Only in I Love Bees 2014 data-sort-value="Legend of Korra, The" | The Legend of Korra Tahno 2015, 2024 Until Dawn Joshua "Josh" Washington Also likeness and motion capture performance While his win was celebrated in Egypt by the media and some government officials, Member of Parliament Mohamed Ismail criticized Malek's win: "I was surprised by the Egyptian media's celebration of Rami Malek, because the role played by Rami Malek in the film is far from his real character. He is trying to [spread] homosexuality among the youth... The award has a specific goal, which is to corrupt morality in the Arab world. Rami Malek is a bad example. If he was in Egypt, he would have been hanged". The organization Human Rights Watch stated that the country deserved an Oscar for hypocrisy for praising Malek, given its prohibition on LGBT people being celebrated in the media.