Hollywood actor and Oscar winner, Mahershala Ali is definitely living the American dream this summer for the July issue of GQ magazine. The “Moonlight” actor has suddenly become twitter’s sensation since after talking to Carvell Wallace about love, tolerance and religion while being photographed by Peggy Sirota on his first GQ cover.
Mahershala, whose real name is Mahershalalhashbaz (a Hebrew name), converted to Islam in 1999, after attending a mosque with his future wife. His faith, he says, has helped him become a better actor: “It benefits me from the standpoint of really creating empathy for these characters that I try to embody, other human beings with issues as deep and personal as my own. Because of Islam, I am acutely aware that I am a work in progress.”
The daily practice of the religion, he says, “puts a healthy pressure on you to be your best self, beginning with your own spirit and how that feeds into your actions.”
Read more excerpts from the interview below:
On life after his Oscar win: “When suddenly you go from being followed in Barneys to being fawned over, it will mess with your head.”
On being a black man in America: “Those experiences that you have from age 10, when you start getting these little messages that you are something to be feared… Walking down the street in Berkeley and some cops roll up on you and say straight up, ‘Give me your ID,’ and you’re like, ‘What the f**k?’”
On his hopes for America: “I think African-Americans have a very convoluted relationship with patriotism. The fact is, we essentially were the abused child. We still love the parent, but you can’t overlook the fact that we have a very convoluted relationship with the parent. I absolutely love this country, but like so many people have some real questions and concerns about how things have gone down over the years and where we’re at. And that’s from a place of love, because I want the country to be what it says it is on paper.”
Read more on Mahershala’s feature in GQ’s July 2017 Issue.
Photo Credit: GQ
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