Barkhad Abdi

Barkhad Abdi, born on April 10^th,1985, is a Somalian-American actor and director. He was born in Banadir, Mogadishu, Somalia. When he was six years old, the Civil War broke out, and so along with his family he moved to Yemen. His father took up teaching there for his livelihood. The family, later on, re shifted to Minnesota. He attended the Minnesota University there. According to Abdi, it was hard making friends as he had to learn a new language. Before entering into the film industry, he sold mobile phones and worked as a driver for his livelihood.

Barkhad made his debut in the year 2013 with the movie Captain Philips. He played the role of Abduali Muse, a hijacker and also a pirate leader. For this role, he got chosen from a large group of around 700 people who auditioned for the role in Minnesota in 2011. Abdi along with three more actors were selected. According to the director who took the screen test, the four were the only people who stood out amongst the large crowd. Abdi performed with Tom Hanks I quote his famous line “Mama always said life was >> Read More... for the film.

Abdi resides in Los Angeles, California. For his role in Captain Philips he got nominated and even honoured with many awards including the Academy Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for, Chicago Film Critics Association, and MTV Movie Award, and Central Ohio Film Critics Award, which are prestigious awards in the film industry. He also featured in many movies like Eye In The Sky, and Wolf who Cried Boy released in 2015, and Grimsby, and Extortion launched in 2016. Abdi enacted the role of a drug dealer in Grimsby very well. He also appeared in many Television shows like Family Guy and Hawaii Five-O. In 2013, Abdi started working as an Ambassador for Adeso, an NGO founded by a Somali environmentalist. In Eye In The Sky, Abdi played the role of a young Kenyan intelligence officer and in Where The White Man Runs Away, Abdi played the role of a translator. Abdi owns a Somali restaurant called Madinah which serves delicious Somalian food.

Abdi also got nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and a Golden Globe Award. He also won a BAFTA Award, which is an annual British award.