Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali

Actor (b. 1974)
14
Movies
72.9%
Avg ThumbScore
Drama
Top Genre

Audiences rate Mahershala Ali’s films higher than 62% of the 3,467 people with 10 or more films on ThumbScore. See the full ranking

Free to watch now (26 Oct): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla, Pluto TV) · Free State of Jones (The CW, Tubi, Kanopy, PBS, Fawesome) · The Place Beyond the Pines (YouTube).

Frequent Collaborators

Taraji P. Henson (2)Janelle Monáe (2)Naomie Harris (2)Shameik Moore (1)Jake Johnson (1)
i How is this score calculated?

The ThumbScore for Mahershala Ali (72.9%) is the average audience approval rating across 14 films. Each movie's ThumbScore represents the percentage of real audiences who rated it positively. A higher score means more of Mahershala's films are well-received by everyday viewers.

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.

Born 1974-02-16 in Oakland, California, USA.

On ThumbScore, Mahershala Ali appears in 14 films with an average audience score of 72.9%, most frequently in the Drama genre.

Sources: TMDB

Every Mahershala Ali movie, ranked by audience score

Green Book
Green Book
2018
👍 91%
Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures
2016
👍 86%
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008
👍 86%
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2018
👍 82%
Alita: Battle Angel
Alita: Battle Angel
2019
👍 82%
Free State of Jones
Free State of Jones
2016
👍 81%
Moonlight
Moonlight
2016
👍 80%
Predators
Predators
2010
👍 80%
The Place Beyond the Pines
The Place Beyond the Pines
2013
👍 74%
Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World Rebirth
2025
👍 63%
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
2026
👍 56%
Wildwood
Wildwood
2026
👍 56%
Leave the World Behind
Leave the World Behind
2023
👍 52%
Swan Song
Swan Song
2021
👍 51%