Mahershala Ali, original name Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore, (born February 16, 1974, Oakland, California, U.S.), American actor who rose to prominence in the 2010s and won an Academy Award for his moving and nuanced performance as the fatherly drug dealer Juan in the film Moonlight (2016).

Ali appeared in the popular movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). Other notable roles included a recurring part (2011–12) in the well-received TV drama Treme and the character Boggs, an ally of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) in the movies The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2 (2015). Moreover, he released the rap albums Corner Ensemble (2006) and Curb Side Service (2007) under the name Prince Ali.

Ali gained wide and favourable attention for his portrayal (2013–16) of the political operator Remy Danton in the popular Netflix series House of Cards. In 2016 he was nominated for an Emmy Award for that role. He also won praise for his performance as a former slave who becomes a political activist in the film Free State of Jones (2016). In addition to his award-winning role in Moonlight, Ali in 2016 played the villainous Cornell (“Cottonmouth”) Stokes in the superhero series Luke Cage and the love interest of mathematician Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) in the movie Hidden Figures (2016). He later received a second Oscar for best supporting actor for his performance in Green Book (2018), the story of an unlikely friendship between an African American classical pianist and the working-class bouncer he hires to drive him on a tour of the American South in the 1960s. In the acclaimed animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Ali voiced the title character’s uncle. He also successfully lobbied for the lead role of the television series True Detective, portraying a police officer investigating the disappearance of two children in the show’s third season (2019). For his performance Ali received his second Emmy nomination.

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