22 Facts About Mahershala Ali

1.

Mahershala Ali has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

2.

Mahershala Ali gained wider attention for supporting roles in the final two films of The Hunger Games film series, and in House of Cards, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

3.

Mahershala Ali won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances as a drug dealer in the drama Moonlight and as Don Shirley in the comedy-drama film Green Book.

4.

Mahershala Ali is the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar, the first Black actor to win two Academy Awards in the same category, and the second Black actor to win multiple acting Oscars.

5.

Mahershala Ali was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for both performances.

6.

Mahershala Ali has played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in the first season of the Netflix series Luke Cage.

7.

Mahershala Ali was born on February 16,1974, in Oakland, California, the son of Willicia Goines was born on 1957 and and Phillip Gilmore.

8.

Mahershala Ali was raised as a Christian in Hayward, California by his mother, an ordained Baptist minister whose mother, Evia Goines, was an ordained minister at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward, CA.

9.

Mahershala Ali's father was an actor who appeared on Broadway.

10.

Mahershala Ali attended St Mary's College of California in Moraga, California, where he graduated in 1996 with a degree in mass communication.

11.

Mahershala Ali entered SMC with a basketball scholarship and went by the name "Hershal Gilmore" when playing for the SMC Gaels.

12.

Mahershala 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, which later landed him an apprenticeship at the California Shakespeare Theater following graduation.

13.

Mahershala 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.

14.

Mahershala Ali 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.

15.

Mahershala Ali elaborated in an interview to Vanity Fair in October 2016:.

16.

In 2017, Mahershala Ali joined the video game Madden NFL 18 story mode Longshot, in which he played Cutter Wade, the father of protagonist Devin.

17.

Mahershala 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.

18.

At the annual San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Mahershala Ali was announced as being cast to play the supernatural superhero Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film of the same name, which was previously played by Wesley Snipes.

19.

Mahershala Ali was signed to Bay Area recording label Hieroglyphics Imperium during the late 2000s and recorded rap music as Prince Mahershala Ali.

20.

In 2015 Mahershala 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.

21.

Mahershala Ali converted to Ahmadiyya Islam in 2000, changing his surname from Gilmore to Mahershala Ali.

22.

Mahershala Ali is married to Amatus Sami-Karim, an actress and musician.