
Mahershala Ali
Department: Acting
Biography
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.
Known For

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008

Eternals
2021

Leave the World Behind
2023

Predators
2010

The Wronged Man
2010

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
2027

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2023

The Place Beyond the Pines
2013

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
2014

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
2015

Go for Sisters
2013

Wildwood
2026

Stand
2023

Supremacy
2014

Free State of Jones
2016

77 Blackout
—

Kicks
2016

Jurassic World Rebirth
2025

Hidden Figures
2016

Moonlight
2016

Alita: Battle Angel
2019

Gubagude Ko
2016

Roxanne Roxanne
2017

Crossing Over
2009

The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
—

Green Book
2018

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2018

All Signs of Death
—

Umi's Heart
2008

The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
2015

Taste the Revolution
2003

Predators: Moments of Extraction
2010

Swan Song
2021

Between the World and Me
2020

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
2009

Adnis
2017

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
—

Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era
2025

Predators: The Chosen
2010

The 4400
2004

Crossing Jordan
2001

Room 104
2017

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999

Alphas
2011

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000

Invincible
2021

Chimp Empire
2023

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015

The Daily Show
1996

Threat Matrix
2003

House of Cards
2013

True Detective
2014

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014

Lie to Me
2009

The Graham Norton Show
2007

The View
1997

Stand Up to Cancer
2008

Alcatraz
2012

The Oscars
1953

Amend: The Fight for America
2021

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015

The Oscars
1953

Race for the White House
2016

Ramy
2019

Marvel's Luke Cage
2016

A World of Calm
2020

The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973