Mahershala Ali

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

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

The Daily Show

The Graham Norton Show

INVINCIBLE

True Detective

The View

All Movies (41)

• Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse2027 · as Uncle Aaron (voice)
• Wildwood2026 · as Brenden (voice)
• Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother2026
• Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era2025 · as Self
• Jurassic World Rebirth2025 · as Duncan Kincaid
• Leave the World Behind2023 · as G.H. Scott
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse2023 · as Uncle Aaron (voice)
• Stand2023 · as Self - Actor
• Swan Song2021 · as Cameron Turner
• Eternals2021 · as Eric Brooks / Blade (voice) (uncredited)
• Between the World and Me2020
• Alita: Battle Angel2019 · as Vector
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse2018 · as Uncle Aaron (voice)
• Green Book2018 · as Dr. Don Shirley
• Adnis2017 · as Adnis
• Roxanne Roxanne2017 · as Cross
• Hidden Figures2016 · as Jim Johnson
• Moonlight2016 · as Juan
• Kicks2016 · as Marlon
• Free State of Jones2016 · as Moses Washington
• Gubagude Ko2016 · as Ochoro
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 22015 · as Boggs
• The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 12015 · as Self - Boggs
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 12014 · as Boggs
• Supremacy2014 · as Deputy Rivers
• Go for Sisters2013 · as Dez
• The Place Beyond the Pines2013 · as Kofi Kancam
• Predators: Moments of Extraction2010 · as Mombasa (voice)
• The Wronged Man2010 · as Calvin Willis
• Predators2010 · as Mombasa
• Predators: The Chosen2010
• The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button2009 · as Self
• Crossing Over2009 · as Detective Strickland
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button2008 · as Tizzy Weathers
• Umi's Heart2008 · as Ezra
• Taste the Revolution2003 · as Mac Laslow
• 77 Blackout—
• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree— · as Isaac Dupree
• All Signs of Death— · as Gabe
• Driver—
• Blade—

All TV Shows (30)

• Task2025 · as Eddie Barnes
• Chimp Empire2023 · as Self - Narrator (voice)
• INVINCIBLE2021 · as Titan (voice)
• Amend: The Fight for America2021 · as Self
• A World of Calm2020 · as Narrator
• Ramy2019 · as Sheikh Ali Malik
• Room 1042017 · as Franco
• Marvel's Luke Cage2016 · as Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes
• Race for the White House2016 · as Narrator
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert2015 · as Self
• Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter2015 · as Self
• Variety Studio: Actors on Actors2014 · as Self
• True Detective2014 · as Wayne Hays
• House of Cards2013 · as Remy Danton
• Alcatraz2012 · as Clarence Montgomery
• Alphas2011 · as Nathan Clay
• Lie to Me2009 · as Detective Hughes
• Stand Up to Cancer2008 · as Self
• The Graham Norton Show2007 · as Self
• The 44002004 · as Richard Tyler
• Threat Matrix2003 · as Jelani Harper
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!2003 · as Self
• Crossing Jordan2001 · as Trey Sanders
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation2000 · as Tombs' Security Guard
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit1999 · as Mark Foster
• The View1997 · as Self
• The Daily Show1996 · as Self
• The American Film Institute Salute to ...1973 · as Self
• The Oscars1953 · as Self - Presenter
• The Oscars1953 · as Self