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

• 2027Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse — Uncle Aaron (voice)
• 2026Wildwood — Brenden (voice)
• 2026Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — Latif
• 2025Jurassic World Rebirth — Duncan Kincaid
• Task — Eddie Barnes
• 2023Leave the World Behind — G.H. Scott
• 2023Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Uncle Aaron (voice)
• 2021Eternals — Eric Brooks / Blade (voice) (uncredited)
• INVINCIBLE — Titan (voice)
• 2021Swan Song — Cameron Turner, Producer
• A World of Calm — Narrator
• 2020Between the World and Me
• 2020We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest — Executive Producer
• 2019Alita: Battle Angel — Vector
• Ramy — Sheikh Ali Malik
• 2019Waves — Thanks
• 2018Green Book — Dr. Don Shirley
• 2018Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — Uncle Aaron (voice)
• Room 104 — Franco
• 2017Roxanne Roxanne — Cross
• 2016Free State of Jones — Moses Washington
• 2016Gubagude Ko — Ochoro
• 2016Hidden Figures — Jim Johnson
• 2016Kicks — Marlon
• Marvel's Luke Cage — Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes
• 2016Moonlight — Juan
• Race for the White House — Narrator
• 2015The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 — Boggs
• 2014Supremacy — Deputy Rivers
• 2014The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 — Boggs
• True Detective — Wayne Hays
• 2013Go for Sisters — Dez
• House of Cards — Remy Danton
• 2013The Place Beyond the Pines — Kofi Kancam
• Alcatraz — Clarence Montgomery
• Alphas — Nathan Clay
• 2010Predators — Mombasa
• 2010Predators: Moments of Extraction — Mombasa (voice), Thanks
• 2010Predators: The Chosen
• 2010The Wronged Man — Calvin Willis
• 2009Crossing Over — Detective Strickland
• Lie to Me — Detective Hughes
• 2008The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Tizzy Weathers
• 2008Umi's Heart — Ezra
• The 4400 — Richard Tyler
• 2003Taste the Revolution — Mac Laslow, Executive Producer
• Threat Matrix — Jelani Harper
• Crossing Jordan — Trey Sanders
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — Tombs' Security Guard
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Mark Foster
• 77 Blackout
• All Signs of Death — Gabe
• Driver
• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree — Isaac Dupree
• Untitled Jurassic World Rebirth Sequel — Duncan Kincaid

Appearances as themselves (16)

• 2025Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era — Self
• Chimp Empire — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2023Stand — Self - Actor
• Amend: The Fight for America — Self
• Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter — Self
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — Self
• 2015The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 — Self - Boggs
• Variety Studio: Actors on Actors — Self
• 2009The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button — Self
• Stand Up to Cancer — Self
• The Graham Norton Show — Self
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Self, Self - Guest
• The View — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• The American Film Institute Salute to ... — Self
• The Oscars — Self - Presenter