Mahershalalhashbaz "Mahershala" Ali is an American actor who shot to fame with his performance in the TV series The 4400. Ali, who began his career as a television actor with the TV show Crossing Jordan in the early 2000s, gradually ventured into movies. The actor is known for movies such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Predators (2010), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015). Ali received critical and commercial acclaim for his role as Juan in the movie Moonlight (2016): he won the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Critics` Choice Award for Best Supporting actor for his role. He is also popularly known for essaying the character of Remy Danton in the award-winning drama series, House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey.

Personal Life
While Ali attended the NYU he met his future wife Amatus Sami-Karim. The couple married in In 2013. The actor is also a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Early Life
Ali was born to Willicia Gilmore, an ordained minister, and Philip Gilmore, a theatre actor, in Oakland, California, USA. Although born as a catholic, Ali later converted to Islam and changed his surname to Ali. The actor attended the St. Mary`s College of California, graduating in 1996 with a degree in mass communication.

The actor was passionate about sports and had entered SMC on a basketball scholarship. However, due to the treatment given to the team`s athletes, he lost his interest in sports. Later, Ali developed an interest in acting after he appeared in the play, Spunk; owing to which he earned an apprenticeship at the California Shakespeare Theatre after his graduation. He later worked for Gavin Report, a former radio publication based in San Francisco, for a year and then enrolled in the graduate acting program at the New York University. He earned his master`s degree in acting in 2000.

Television Career
After achieving his master`s degree in 2000, Ali made his acting debut in the following year with the TV series Crossing Jordan in 2001. Essaying the role of Dr. Trey Sanders, he appeared on the show for 19 episodes for the first season. The next couple of years saw Ali featuring in guest roles in TV shows such as Haunted (2002), NYPD Blue (2002), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2003), and The Handler (2003).

In 2003, he was also cast as a regular in the TV series Threat Matrix, wherein he played the role of Jelani Harper. The show which was filmed for 16 episodes, was only aired for 14 episodes in the USA. The following year he appeared in the science-fiction drama The 4400 created by Rene Echevarria and Scott Peters. Being a regular for the first three seasons of the show, Ali essayed the role of Richard Tyler until the fourth season, which saw him appearing in only two episodes. In subsequent years, Ali starred in guest roles in TV shows such as Lie To Me (2009) and All Signs of Death (2010). It was only in 2011 that he appeared in a recurring role of Anthony King in the TV series Treme. In the same year he also starred in Alphas, a science fiction drama created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. The show received mixed reviews from the audience and was cancelled after two seasons.

One of Ali`s most prominent and acclaimed roles came with the TV series House of Cards. In the acclaimed TV show, the actor essayed the role of Remy Danton, the confidant and Chief of Staff of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). Following his success with House of Cards, in 2016, Ali appeared on Netflix`s Luke Cage, as Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes.

Movie Career
Ali made his silver screen debut with the 2003 movie Making Revolution. However, for the next five years the actor was primarily seen on television. It was only in 2008, that Ali starred in his first major release: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button directed by David Fincher. He next played the character of Mombasa in the science fiction movie Predators (2010) directed by Nimrod Antal. The movie, which is the third installment of the Predators franchise, received mixed reviews at the box office. Ali then appeared in another supporting role in the movie The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) which starred Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Dane DeHaan, and Emory Cohen in the lead roles. However, the next two movies he starred in - Go for Sisters (2013) and Supremacy (2014) - went on to receive negative reviews at the box office.

In 2014, Ali was seen in the role of Boggs in the movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, directed by Francis Lawrence, which is the third installment of the The Hunger Games movie series. The following year he reprised the role of Boggs in the second part of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. However, one of his most prominent and acclaimed roles came with the 2016 movie Moonlight, wherein he starred as Juan. The movie that was unanimously praised by the critics won the award for Best Motion Picture - Drama at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Essaying the role of a drug dealer, Ali received Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won the SAG and the Critics` Choice Award. In the same year, he also starred in another critically acclaimed movie Hidden Figures, which was nominated for three Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. His 2017 release includes the movie Roxanne Roxanne directed by Michael Larnell. In 2018, he played the character of Aaron Davis in the animated superhero film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.