Cast & creator
Mahershala Ali
Best known for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Daily Show
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.
Also known as: Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Mahershala Karim-Ali , Hershal Gilmore, Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore
45
film credits
31
television credits
71
1953–2027 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (76)
Showing 76 of 76 credits
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Mark Foster
1999
The Daily Show
Self
1996
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Tombs' Security Guard
2000
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007
The View
Self
1997
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self
2003Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self - Guest
2003
Crossing Jordan
Trey Sanders
2001
True Detective
Wayne Hays
2014
INVINCIBLE
Titan (voice)
2021
House of Cards
Remy Danton
2013
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Self
2014
Lie to Me
Detective Hughes
2009
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Uncle Aaron (voice)
2023
The 4400
Richard Tyler
2004
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Uncle Aaron (voice)
2018
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self
2015
Jurassic World Rebirth
Duncan Kincaid
2025
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Boggs
2014
The Oscars
Self - Presenter
1953The Oscars
Self
1953
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Boggs
2015
Hidden Figures
Jim Johnson
2016
Green Book
Dr. Don Shirley
2018
Marvel's Luke Cage
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes
2016
Room 104
Franco
2017
Task
Eddie Barnes
2025
Alphas
Nathan Clay
2011
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Tizzy Weathers
2008
Alita: Battle Angel
Vector
2019
Eternals
Eric Brooks / Blade (voice) (uncredited)
2021
Moonlight
Juan
2016
Threat Matrix
Jelani Harper
2003
Alcatraz
Clarence Montgomery
2012
Wildwood
Brenden (voice)
2026
Predators
Mombasa
2010
Ramy
Sheikh Ali Malik
2019
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Latif
2026
The Place Beyond the Pines
Kofi Kancam
2013
Swan Song
Cameron Turner
2021Swan Song
Producer
2021
Leave the World Behind
G.H. Scott
2023
Amend: The Fight for America
Self
2021
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
1973
Free State of Jones
Moses Washington
2016
Crossing Over
Detective Strickland
2009
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Uncle Aaron (voice)
2027
Waves
Thanks
2019
Race for the White House
Narrator
2016
Chimp Empire
Self - Narrator (voice)
2023
Stand Up to Cancer
Self
2008
A World of Calm
Narrator
2020
The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
Self
2009
Supremacy
Deputy Rivers
2014
Roxanne Roxanne
Cross
2017Untitled Jurassic World Rebirth Sequel
Duncan Kincaid
The Wronged Man
Calvin Willis
2010
Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era
Self
2025
Go for Sisters
Dez
2013All Signs of Death
Gabe
Between the World and Me
2020
Kicks
Marlon
2016
The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Self - Boggs
2015The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Isaac Dupree
Predators: Moments of Extraction
Mombasa (voice)
2010Predators: Moments of Extraction
Thanks
2010
Stand
Self - Actor
2023
Predators: The Chosen
2010
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest
Executive Producer
2020
Taste the Revolution
Mac Laslow
2003Taste the Revolution
Executive Producer
200377 Blackout
Driver
Gubagude Ko
Ochoro
2016
Umi's Heart
Ezra
2008