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| Introducing Mahershala Ali: You’ve Surely Seen His Face | Introducing Mahershala Ali: You’ve Surely Seen His Face |
| (30 days later) | |
| Over breakfast one Sunday, the actor Mahershala Ali ordered a healthy egg-white omelet, studiously avoiding a basket of complimentary, carb-loaded pastries. Life is full of such choices, and as he described his decision to leave the Netflix drama “House of Cards,” it became clear that the career move represented a similar choice, between one immediately satisfying option and another that would ultimately be more sustaining. | Over breakfast one Sunday, the actor Mahershala Ali ordered a healthy egg-white omelet, studiously avoiding a basket of complimentary, carb-loaded pastries. Life is full of such choices, and as he described his decision to leave the Netflix drama “House of Cards,” it became clear that the career move represented a similar choice, between one immediately satisfying option and another that would ultimately be more sustaining. |
| “I was coming to terms with the idea that there’s a difference between gratitude and fulfillment,” said Mr. Ali, who earned an Emmy nomination and raves for his bristling turn as Remy Danton, a sly political chess master. “I felt grateful for the work I was getting, but I wasn’t fulfilled.” | “I was coming to terms with the idea that there’s a difference between gratitude and fulfillment,” said Mr. Ali, who earned an Emmy nomination and raves for his bristling turn as Remy Danton, a sly political chess master. “I felt grateful for the work I was getting, but I wasn’t fulfilled.” |
| After Mr. Ali decided to leave the show last year, his disciplined gamble paid off immediately. Now he is being celebrated for career-redefining roles in two of this fall’s most prominent screen projects: “Moonlight,” which opened Oct. 21, and was one of the year’s best-reviewed films, and the superhero series “Marvel’s Luke Cage.” On Tuesday he was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor for his “Moonlight” performance. | |
| Mr. Ali’s rise has not been meteoric. It is the result of a hard-fought and patient two-decade campaign. He grew up in Oakland, Calif., and attended St. Mary’s College nearby, where he was one of a few African-American students and the only varsity basketball player who also performed in poetry slams. He discovered a love of theater in two college plays, and after completing N.Y.U.’s graduate acting program, he landed a 19-episode run on “Crossing Jordan” from 2001 to 2002 as the polished Dr. Trey Sanders. | Mr. Ali’s rise has not been meteoric. It is the result of a hard-fought and patient two-decade campaign. He grew up in Oakland, Calif., and attended St. Mary’s College nearby, where he was one of a few African-American students and the only varsity basketball player who also performed in poetry slams. He discovered a love of theater in two college plays, and after completing N.Y.U.’s graduate acting program, he landed a 19-episode run on “Crossing Jordan” from 2001 to 2002 as the polished Dr. Trey Sanders. |
| “I was the black guy on the show, that was kind of it,” Mr. Ali, 42, said bluntly, dapper in a crisp white cotton shirt. “It felt like there was a diversity box being checked, and if you’re there to check a box, to some degree, then they’re not really going to write for you.” | “I was the black guy on the show, that was kind of it,” Mr. Ali, 42, said bluntly, dapper in a crisp white cotton shirt. “It felt like there was a diversity box being checked, and if you’re there to check a box, to some degree, then they’re not really going to write for you.” |
| Mr. Ali left and became a respected stage actor (“Smart People”) and journeyman supporting actor on other series (“Alphas,” “Treme”). Crucially, the director David Fincher cast him in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008), which led to roles in major projects like the “Hunger Games” franchise. “House of Cards” made Mr. Ali more of a household name, but the open-ended series commitment meant he had to reject other offers. | Mr. Ali left and became a respected stage actor (“Smart People”) and journeyman supporting actor on other series (“Alphas,” “Treme”). Crucially, the director David Fincher cast him in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008), which led to roles in major projects like the “Hunger Games” franchise. “House of Cards” made Mr. Ali more of a household name, but the open-ended series commitment meant he had to reject other offers. |
| “I thought: I’ve been doing this for 16 years professionally,” he said. “I have a window where I want to play leading parts.” | “I thought: I’ve been doing this for 16 years professionally,” he said. “I have a window where I want to play leading parts.” |
| As soon as Mr. Ali made his bold move to leave, he booked so much work that his deliberate career plan began to look less like a calculated game of chess than a frenzied video game. “Somehow, in the Tetris of it all, it fit together,” he said. | As soon as Mr. Ali made his bold move to leave, he booked so much work that his deliberate career plan began to look less like a calculated game of chess than a frenzied video game. “Somehow, in the Tetris of it all, it fit together,” he said. |
| Last year, in the span of a month, he worked seven days a week, playing four characters in four cities. In Baltimore, he capped his run on “House of Cards.” In New York, he worked on the avant-garde artist Daniel Arsham’s experimental film project, “Future Relic,” opposite Juliette Lewis. In Miami, he shot “Moonlight,” the new film by Barry Jenkins. He spent the rest of his days in Brooklyn filming his meaty role as the nemesis Cornell Stokes, a.k.a. Cottonmouth, on “Luke Cage.” | Last year, in the span of a month, he worked seven days a week, playing four characters in four cities. In Baltimore, he capped his run on “House of Cards.” In New York, he worked on the avant-garde artist Daniel Arsham’s experimental film project, “Future Relic,” opposite Juliette Lewis. In Miami, he shot “Moonlight,” the new film by Barry Jenkins. He spent the rest of his days in Brooklyn filming his meaty role as the nemesis Cornell Stokes, a.k.a. Cottonmouth, on “Luke Cage.” |
| “To be honest, I don’t intend to ever do that again,” he said. “I was worried that the characters would bleed together, or feel like different versions of the same character, and that terrified me.” | “To be honest, I don’t intend to ever do that again,” he said. “I was worried that the characters would bleed together, or feel like different versions of the same character, and that terrified me.” |
| Mr. Ali, who is upbeat and charming in person but also very professional and earnest, was keenly aware that this was his moment. His performances in “House of Cards,” “Luke Cage” and “Moonlight” are so different, from physical presence to diction and demeanor, that it is hard to imagine he transitioned from one to the next, day after day. | Mr. Ali, who is upbeat and charming in person but also very professional and earnest, was keenly aware that this was his moment. His performances in “House of Cards,” “Luke Cage” and “Moonlight” are so different, from physical presence to diction and demeanor, that it is hard to imagine he transitioned from one to the next, day after day. |
| Cottonmouth is a vicious Harlem crime boss with a tragic past and a habit of throwing guys off rooftops. “Coming off ‘House of Cards,’ playing someone so strait-laced, I was getting offered a lot of F.B.I. agents,” he said, chuckling. “And to get the offer to play the antagonist? You can’t watch ‘Daredevil’ or ‘Jessica Jones’ or the Marvel films and not be aware that the villain has to be awesome. I’ve always wanted to have more space. And the scope, morally, is more broad for the villain than the hero.” | Cottonmouth is a vicious Harlem crime boss with a tragic past and a habit of throwing guys off rooftops. “Coming off ‘House of Cards,’ playing someone so strait-laced, I was getting offered a lot of F.B.I. agents,” he said, chuckling. “And to get the offer to play the antagonist? You can’t watch ‘Daredevil’ or ‘Jessica Jones’ or the Marvel films and not be aware that the villain has to be awesome. I’ve always wanted to have more space. And the scope, morally, is more broad for the villain than the hero.” |
| The show also interested him as entertainment that would “potentially have some social and cultural impact, that’s really trying to explore some topics like gentrification and toxic masculinity,” he said. | The show also interested him as entertainment that would “potentially have some social and cultural impact, that’s really trying to explore some topics like gentrification and toxic masculinity,” he said. |
| But his priority was clear. “‘Moonlight’ is a project that resonated with me more than anything else. I wouldn’t have done ‘Luke Cage’ if they hadn’t made time for ‘Moonlight.’” | But his priority was clear. “‘Moonlight’ is a project that resonated with me more than anything else. I wouldn’t have done ‘Luke Cage’ if they hadn’t made time for ‘Moonlight.’” |
| The empathetic, elegiac, low-budget film is a coming-of-age story about Chiron, a poor, gay, African-American boy from Miami, told in three segments. In the first, Mr. Ali plays Juan, a lumbering drug dealer who discovers the trembling boy hiding from bullies. At first glance, Juan’s gold front teeth and slow-moving menace project a kind of intimidating power, but Mr. Ali imbues him with an uncommon tenderness, and he becomes an unlikely mentor whom Chiron later emulates. | The empathetic, elegiac, low-budget film is a coming-of-age story about Chiron, a poor, gay, African-American boy from Miami, told in three segments. In the first, Mr. Ali plays Juan, a lumbering drug dealer who discovers the trembling boy hiding from bullies. At first glance, Juan’s gold front teeth and slow-moving menace project a kind of intimidating power, but Mr. Ali imbues him with an uncommon tenderness, and he becomes an unlikely mentor whom Chiron later emulates. |
| In “Moonlight,” Mr. Ali’s slick “House of Cards” polish gives way to a simpler sincerity. He is often the only professional actor onscreen, yet his performance comes across as utterly natural, humanizing a role that is often reduced to stereotype. | In “Moonlight,” Mr. Ali’s slick “House of Cards” polish gives way to a simpler sincerity. He is often the only professional actor onscreen, yet his performance comes across as utterly natural, humanizing a role that is often reduced to stereotype. |
| The film is based on an autobiographical play by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Mr. Jenkins, the director, said, “A friend of mine always says a black drug dealer is always only a black drug dealer, but Juan is drawn from this lived experience.” In the scenes between Juan and Chiron, he added, “you’re just watching these two human beings.” | The film is based on an autobiographical play by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Mr. Jenkins, the director, said, “A friend of mine always says a black drug dealer is always only a black drug dealer, but Juan is drawn from this lived experience.” In the scenes between Juan and Chiron, he added, “you’re just watching these two human beings.” |
| Janelle Monáe, who plays Juan’s girlfriend, agreed: “I am so proud as an African-American woman I was able to support an African-American man who is making sure that the people in our communities are looked at as complete human beings and not marginalized and not treated as only their mistakes.” | Janelle Monáe, who plays Juan’s girlfriend, agreed: “I am so proud as an African-American woman I was able to support an African-American man who is making sure that the people in our communities are looked at as complete human beings and not marginalized and not treated as only their mistakes.” |
| Mr. Ali’s preconception-shattering take invites audiences to reassess their assumptions. But he warned against interpreting either “Moonlight” or “Luke Cage” as a direct response to the current political climate that encompasses Black Lives Matter activism and Donald J. Trump’s “inner city” fear-mongering. | Mr. Ali’s preconception-shattering take invites audiences to reassess their assumptions. But he warned against interpreting either “Moonlight” or “Luke Cage” as a direct response to the current political climate that encompasses Black Lives Matter activism and Donald J. Trump’s “inner city” fear-mongering. |
| “What’s going on, people being shot or killed or profiled, we grew up with that,” Mr. Ali said, noting that a few years ago he had been stopped by the police. “I was walking with a friend, and he thought I was pimping her. I’m in Berkeley, arguably the most liberal city in the country! And I’m on TV! Imagine if you’re just some brother in the ’hood, walking to the corner store.” | “What’s going on, people being shot or killed or profiled, we grew up with that,” Mr. Ali said, noting that a few years ago he had been stopped by the police. “I was walking with a friend, and he thought I was pimping her. I’m in Berkeley, arguably the most liberal city in the country! And I’m on TV! Imagine if you’re just some brother in the ’hood, walking to the corner store.” |
| His point, he said, is not that he was stopped by the police but that the current news cycle is not the inspiration for his performances. “When you see a project that has a black voice at the helm,” he added, “maybe now you see other things layered in the stories that perhaps would have always been there in stories written from the perspective of an African-American person.” | His point, he said, is not that he was stopped by the police but that the current news cycle is not the inspiration for his performances. “When you see a project that has a black voice at the helm,” he added, “maybe now you see other things layered in the stories that perhaps would have always been there in stories written from the perspective of an African-American person.” |
| He also said that the opportunity to play the kind of African-American male mentor he rarely had in his life had brought him to tears. “The vast majority of people in my life who made a difference have been women,” he said, like the theater professor who first pushed him into acting and his grandmother, who told him “that I was handsome, that I was intelligent and that I could do anything I put my mind to.” (He is married to the artist and composer Amatus Sami-Karim.) | He also said that the opportunity to play the kind of African-American male mentor he rarely had in his life had brought him to tears. “The vast majority of people in my life who made a difference have been women,” he said, like the theater professor who first pushed him into acting and his grandmother, who told him “that I was handsome, that I was intelligent and that I could do anything I put my mind to.” (He is married to the artist and composer Amatus Sami-Karim.) |
| Still, Mr. Ali said, he felt the absence of male role models keenly. “I didn’t have one black male professor or teacher my entire life,” he said. “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.” | Still, Mr. Ali said, he felt the absence of male role models keenly. “I didn’t have one black male professor or teacher my entire life,” he said. “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.” |