Mahershala Ali’s Oscar journey
Mahershala’s short but riveting role in the hit film Moonlight has won him heaps of accolades – including an Oscar
ACompiled by LAVERN DE VRIES LL he got was 20 minutes. It’s the total time Mahershala Ali is on screen in Moonlight, but he made every moment count. His mesmerising performance as a soft-hearted drug dealer has earned him glowing reviews and around 29 accolades, including an Oscar for best supporting actor (a first for a Muslim actor), a Critics’ Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild award – that’s more than one a minute! Little wonder his tongue-twister of a name is on everyone’s lips.
Based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the low-budget art film – which also scored Oscars for best picture and best adapted screenplay – tells the touching tale of Chiron, a tragically neglected African-American boy struggling with his sexuality and his mom’s drug addiction.
The film, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, follows Chiron through various phases of his life – as a painfully shy and awkward preteen (played by Alex Hibbert), as an alienated teenager (Ashton Sanders) and finally as an adult (Trevante Rhodes).
While navigating his way through a tough Miami neighbourhood he meets Juan (Mahershala) and his lover Teresa (musician Janelle Monáe in her movie debut), who take the confused youngster under their wing. Ironically, Juan is also the drug dealer who sells Chiron’s mom (Naomi Harris) her daily fix.
Because of the unsavoury way he earns his living Juan seems an unlikely mentor, yet that’s he what becomes to Chiron and over time a nurturing relationship develops. In one if the movie’s most poignant scenes he tries to teach the boy to swim. “Let your head rest in my hand. Relax. I got you. I promise. I won’t let you go. Hey man, I got you,” he coaxes.
A big reason the movie has been making waves is because of the way it confronts the issue of the lack of male mentors for black boys. “I didn’t have one black male professor or teacher my entire life,” Mahershala (43) says. “For myriad reasons, there’s a lack of a strong presence of African-American men to help lead some of these young men and to be role models. So many of us need a Juan in our lives at some point.”
He was happy to step into this role for real on set, offering advice and support to 12-year-old
Alex Hibbert, who was making his debut appearance in front of the cameras.
“Mahershala’s an amazing person,” Alex says. “He gave me tips on how to express myself without even talking – he helped me a lot with my character.”
Mahershala (pronounced mah-HERshuh-lah) reckons an actor’s body language can convey far more than the words that come out of their mouth.
“I know I’ve learnt how to be present without necessarily having a lot to say.”
ALTHOUGH Mahershala is now the man of the moment, his career dates back almost two decades. Movie buffs may recognise him as Boggs, the character who guides and protects protagonist Katniss in the successful The Hunger Games franchise. He’s also known for playing lobbyist and former press secretary Remy Danton in the Netflix series House Of Cards. But it’s his role as Juan – and as Taraji P Henson’s character’s love interest in Hidden Figures, also nominated for a best picture Oscar – that captured critics’ attention. With his award-winning performance coming at a time when US President Donald Trump is trying to push through his controversial Muslim immigration ban, Mahershala, a Muslim convert, used his acceptance speech at last month’s Screen Actors Guild Awards to deliver a message appealing for tolerance. “My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago. But I tell you now, we put things to the side and I’m able to see her, she’s able to see me, we love each other, the love has grown.”
Born in Oakland, California, he was named Mahershalalhashbaz ( he dropped the “hashbaz” after becoming Muslim) Gilmore after the biblical prophet Isaiah’s second son. His mom, Willicia, was a teenager when she fell pregnant with him, the result of a romance with her school sweetheart, Phillip Gilmore. Mahershala’s parents split when he was three and his dad moved to New York where he worked as a dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Although he missed his father dearly, Mahershala believes he did much more for him by leaving than he could have done by staying. It was through his dad that he got his first taste of showbiz – when visiting him they’d see Broadway plays together.
But it was only after starting high school on a basketball scholarship that the acting bug bit. Noticing his graceful good looks, commanding presence and that voice that could melt butter, a teacher persuaded him to join the drama club.
When he was 20 his father died. It was a big loss, causing him to question many things about his background and faith. A few years later he met Amatus Sami-Karim, a Muslim artist who was struggling with similar issues. One day while attending a mosque service with her, Mahershala was moved to tears by an imam [priest] who gave the khutbah [sermon]. “I didn’t quite understand why I was crying, because the prayer was in Arabic and I couldn’t understand,” he recalls. “I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It was beyond explanation. There was this connection that pierced through it all for me.”
MAHERSHALA and Amatus married in 2013 and welcomed their first child, Bari Najma Ali, days before his history-making Oscar win. He says it’s been crazy juggling the awards season, preparing for the baby and wrapping up work on Netflix series Luke Cage.
He has a few projects lined up, including a role in James Cameron’s big-budget sci-fi film Alita: Battle Angel.
Even though scores of awards ceremonies has seen him rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of Hollywood, he still gets star-struck. He “nearly had a heart attack” when Forest Whitaker left him a voicemail message, he says. He’s also a huge fan of Denzel Washington. “I’ve grown up looking at him and aspiring to do work of that calibre.”