Mahershala Ali
Acting • Born 1974-02-16
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.
Filmography
69 credits
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Movie • 2008
Tizzy Weathers
Eternals
Movie • 2021
Eric Brooks / Blade (voice) (uncredited)
Leave the World Behind
Movie • 2023
G.H. Scott
Predators
Movie • 2010
Mombasa
The Wronged Man
Movie • 2010
Calvin Willis
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Movie • 2027
Uncle Aaron (voice)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Movie • 2023
Uncle Aaron (voice)
The Place Beyond the Pines
Movie • 2013
Kofi Kancam
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Movie • 2014
Boggs
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Movie • 2015
Boggs
Go for Sisters
Movie • 2013
Dez
Blade
Movie
Eric Brooks / Blade
Wildwood
Movie • 2026
Brenden (voice)
Stand
Movie • 2023
Self - Actor
Supremacy
Movie • 2014
Deputy Rivers
Free State of Jones
Movie • 2016
Moses Washington
77 Blackout
Movie
Kicks
Movie • 2016
Marlon
Jurassic World Rebirth
Movie • 2025
Duncan Kincaid
Hidden Figures
Movie • 2016
Jim Johnson
Moonlight
Movie • 2016
Juan
Alita: Battle Angel
Movie • 2019
Vector
Gubagude Ko
Movie • 2016
Ochoro
Roxanne Roxanne
Movie • 2017
Cross
Crossing Over
Movie • 2009
Detective Strickland
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Movie
Isaac Dupree
Green Book
Movie • 2018
Dr. Don Shirley
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Movie • 2018
Uncle Aaron (voice)
All Signs of Death
Movie
Gabe
Umi's Heart
Movie • 2008
Ezra
The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Movie • 2015
Self - Boggs
Taste the Revolution
Movie • 2003
Mac Laslow
Predators: Moments of Extraction
Movie • 2010
Mombasa (voice)
Swan Song
Movie • 2021
Cameron Turner
Between the World and Me
Movie • 2020
The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
Movie • 2009
Self
Adnis
Movie • 2017
Adnis
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Movie
Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era
Movie • 2025
Self
Predators: The Chosen
Movie • 2010
The 4400
TV • 2004
Richard Tyler
Crossing Jordan
TV • 2001
Trey Sanders
Room 104
TV • 2017
Franco
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Mark Foster
Alphas
TV • 2011
Nathan Clay
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
TV • 2000
Tombs' Security Guard
Invincible
TV • 2021
Titan (voice)
Chimp Empire
TV • 2023
Self - Narrator (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Threat Matrix
TV • 2003
Jelani Harper
House of Cards
TV • 2013
Remy Danton
True Detective
TV • 2014
Wayne Hays
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV • 2014
Self
Lie to Me
TV • 2009
Detective Hughes
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Stand Up to Cancer
TV • 2008
Self
Alcatraz
TV • 2012
Clarence Montgomery
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self - Presenter
Amend: The Fight for America
TV • 2021
Self
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
TV • 2015
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Race for the White House
TV • 2016
Narrator
Ramy
TV • 2019
Sheikh Ali Malik
Marvel's Luke Cage
TV • 2016
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes
A World of Calm
TV • 2020
Narrator
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self