Oscars Special: Mahershala Ali (Best Supporting Actor)

Mahershala Ali is one of those actors who can give justice to any role offered to him. Sheer dedication accompanied by the immense hunger for more has helped the American-born actor to rise meteorically over the years. Since starting the acting career in 2001, Mahershala has earned a righteous amount of love and support. And what more? He has a beautiful wife who always backs him in his thick and thin.

Mahershala Ali’s Bio: Age, Mother, Height

Born on 16 February 1974 in Oakland, California, Mahershala Ali, age 45, is also known by his birth name, Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore. He is the son of Broadway-actor father, Phillip Gilmore and Christian-minister mother, Willicia Gilmore.

Mahershala had to go through some rough family imbalance when he was 3 as his father left the home. After that, his mom remarried and raised him in California where he attended St. Mary’s College of California. Mahershala graduated with a degree in Mass Communication in the year 1996. Later on, he received his master’s degree from New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2000.

Standing at a height of 6 feet and 1.5 inches (1.88m), Mahershala showed interest in sports before he decided to pitch his career in acting.

Career Highlight: Oscar Triumph!

Stepping into his actor father’s shoes, Mahershala Ali kicked off his acting career with a small screen appearance on 2001 crime series Crossing Jordan. His big screen debut came as Mac Laslow on 2003-released comedy flick Making Revolution.

Few more TV shows and movies under his belt, Mahershala featured on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 in 2014 and also made his mark as Boggs in its sequel a year later. Besides, he went to polish his TV appearances with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) and House of Cards (2013-2016). It was in 2017 when Mahershala bagged his first Oscar as Supporting Actor for his stellar performance in 2016-released drama Moonlight.

Catch Mahershala Ali’s 2019 Oscars speech (Video: YouTube)

After becoming the first ever Muslim actor to claim Hollywood’s prestigious prize, Mahershala added another Oscar to his trophy cabinet with his recent Supporting Actor triumph at the 91st Academy Awards, held on 24 February 2019. While doing so, he surpassed other four brilliant contenders including last year’s winner, Sam Rockwell.

Maherhsla recently completed his first season with 2014-aired crime/mystery series True Detective.

Net Worth

The talented and versatile actor never misses astounding his fans with stellar performances both in small and big screens. With that amount of charm, Mahershala Ali bags immense recognition backed by his compelling net worth of $8 Million.

Artist Wife Amatus Sami-Karim

The Green Book actor is living an equally ecstatic personal life with the company of his artist/composer/actress wife, Amatus Sami-Karim. Amatus vowed to be his life partner in 2013, as the couple walked down the aisle together after initial meet up in New York University.

Mahershala Ali with his wife, Amatus Sami-Karim during Golden Globe Awards 2019 (Picture: Mahershala’s Instagram)

The couple was introduced by their mutual friend, Aliya Latif while in NYU. Following that, they became close to one another and by no time, their friendship was turned into romantic dating. The duo welcomed their first child, a daughter named Bari Najma on 22 February 2017, four days before Mahershala’s first Oscar triumph.

Some Interesting Facts About Mahershala Ali

• Mahershala was named after the second mentioned prophetic-name child in Isaiah, Maher-shala-hash-baz.
• He named his cat ‘Nas’ after the American rapper/songwriter Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (professionally known as Nas).
• Mahershala’s Oscar win came after his Golden Globe triumph with Green Book earlier this year.
• Besides acting, he is into music and has previously recorded rap music as Prince Ali in the late 2000s.