Profile photo of Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali (/məˈhɜːrʃələ/ mə-HUR-shə-lə; 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. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, and in 2020, The New York Times ranked him among the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. After pursuing an MFA degree from New York University, Ali began his career as a regular on television series Crossing Jordan (2001–02) and Threat Matrix (2003–04), before his breakthrough role as Richard Tyler in the science fiction series The 4400 (2004–07). 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 for his performances as a drug dealer in the drama Moonlight (2016) and as Don Shirley in the comedy-drama Green Book (2018). He is 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). Description above from the Wikipedia article Mahershala Ali, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

2027
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse

as Uncle Aaron (voice)

Movie
2025
Jurassic World Rebirth

as Duncan Kincaid

Movie
2023
Leave the World Behind

as G.H. Scott

Movie
2023
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

as Uncle Aaron (voice)

Movie
2019
Alita: Battle Angel

as Vector

Movie
2018
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

as Uncle Aaron (voice)

Movie
2018
Green Book

as Dr. Don Shirley

Movie
2016
Hidden Figures

as Jim Johnson

Movie
2015
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

as Boggs

Movie
2014
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

as Boggs

Movie
2010
Predators

as Mombasa

Movie
2008
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

as Tizzy Weathers

Movie
�
Blade

as Eric Brooks / Blade

Movie
�
Wildwood

as Brenden (voice)

Movie
2014
True Detective

as Wayne Hays

TV Show
2013
House of Cards

as Remy Danton

TV Show