Rami Malek

Rami Said Malek (English: ; Arabic: رامي سعيد مالك, Egyptian Arabic: [ˈɾɑːmi sæˈʕiːd ˈmæːlek]; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He gained recognition for portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2019, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category. He played computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Born in Torrance, California, to Coptic immigrant parents, he studied theater before acting in plays in New York City. He had supporting roles in film and television, including the Fox sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007), the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), and the Night at the Museum film trilogy (2006–2014). Since his breakthrough, Malek has starred in the crime film The Little Things (2021), played the main antagonist Lyutsifer Safin in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021), portrayed David Hill in Christopher Nolan's biographical film Oppenheimer (2023), starred as a CIA cryptographer in the spy film The Amateur (2025), and starred as psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in the film Nuremberg (2025).

Early life and education

Rami Said Malek was born in Torrance, California, on May 12, 1981, to Egyptian immigrant parents Nelly Abdel-Malek and Said Malek (d. 2006). His parents and older sister left Cairo in 1978 after his father, a travel agent and tour guide, became infatuated with Western visitors. They settled in Sherman Oaks, mostly staying in the San Fernando Valley. As a child, Malek rarely ventured into Hollywood, saying "I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in LA, but somehow, I had no idea that I lived right next to Hollywood... I truly thought that that was a million miles away, and it's just a 10-minute drive". His father sold insurance and was a travel agent, while his mother worked as an accountant. Malek was raised in his family's Coptic Orthodox Christian faith, and spoke Egyptian Arabic at home until the age of four. He has an identical twin brother Sami, who is younger by four minutes. His older sister, Jasmine, is an ER doctor. His parents emphasized to their children the importance of preserving their Egyptian roots, and his father would wake him up in the middle of the night to talk on the phone to his Arabic-speaking extended family in Samalut. He has stated that he is also one-eighth Greek.

As a first-generation American, Malek found it difficult to assimilate during his childhood because of cultural differences, even spending most of his childhood having his name mispronounced: "It only took me 'til high school where I found the confidence to tell everybody, 'No, my name is Rami.' It's a very upsetting thing to think about, that I didn't have the confidence to correct anyone at that point." As a result, he said it was difficult to form a self-identity as a child and gravitated towards "creating characters and doing voices" as he searched for an outlet for his energy.

Malek attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he was in the same class as actress Rachel Bilson. Actress Kirsten Dunst also attended the school and shared a musical theater class with him. His parents harbored dreams of him becoming a lawyer, so he joined the debate team in his freshman year. Though he struggled to form arguments, his debate teacher noted his talent in dramatic interpretation and encouraged him instead to perform the Charles Fuller play Zooman and The Sign at a competition. Reflecting on the moment, he said, "On stage I'm having this moment with my dad with a bunch of other people [in the audience], but then I thought, 'Wow, something really special is happening here.'" It was the first time he saw his father become emotional, and his parents' positive reaction to his performance left him feeling free to pursue an acting career. He and his brother were both involved in the school's drama department.

After graduating in 1999, Malek went on to study theater at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. He also spent a semester abroad in England, where he studied at Harlaxton College in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire. During the summer before his senior year, he interned at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, where he became an acquaintance of playwright August Wilson. Of his decision to attend the University of Evansville theater program, he said, "The level of talent at the University of Evansville was formidable from faculty to fellow actors. There's a commitment and dedication that the theater program required that unearthed a work ethic I didn't know I had." He completed his BFA in 2003. The college later honored him with a 2017 Young Alumnus Award, given to those who have "achieved personal success and contribute services to their community and to UE".

Career

2004–2009: Early work

After his college graduation, Malek wanted to attend grad school for theater; with college debt growing, he moved to New York, where he shared a one-bedroom Lower East Side apartment with friends who were also in the theater community. His network of friends included writers and directors, many of whom would come together to form the Slant Theatre Project, and they would perform their own plays around the city. While visiting his family in Los Angeles, Malek met casting director Mali Finn, who convinced him to stay and look for work in Hollywood. After moving back in with his parents, he took jobs delivering pizzas and making falafel and shawarma sandwiches at a restaurant in Hollywood to make ends meet. Despite sending his resume to production houses, he found it difficult to get work as an actor, which led to bouts of depression and a loss of confidence. He considered getting a real estate license instead of pursuing an acting career.

After a year and a half, Malek finally received a call from casting director Mara Casey. She asked to speak to his agent. When he confessed he did not have one, she told him to get one first. After having a pleasant conversation, however, Malek suggested they meet anyway. She agreed, and the meeting led to him getting his first role in the TV sitcom Gilmore Girls; the episode he acted in first aired in January 2004. That same year, he starred in the theater production Johnny Boy at the 130-seat Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California and, later, in the production Shoes opposite Kelli Giddish with the Slant Theatre Project in New York City. He also voiced "additional characters" for the video game Halo 2, for which he was uncredited. In 2005, he received his Screen Actors Guild card for his work in two episodes of the Steven Bochco war drama Over There. Later that year, he appeared in an episode of Medium and was cast in the prominent recurring role of Kenny, on the Fox comedy series The War at Home. Kenny's "coming out" story earned accolades from GLAAD. In 2006, Malek made his feature film debut as Pharaoh Ahkmenrah in the comedy Night at the Museum. He reprised this role in the sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). In the spring of 2007, he appeared on-stage as Jamie in the Vitality Productions theatrical presentation of Keith Bunin's The Credeaux Canvas at the Elephant Theatre in Los Angeles.

2010–2015: Supporting roles

Malek returned to television in 2010 in a recurring role as the suicide bomber Marcos Al-Zacar on the eighth season of the Fox series 24. Growing weary of playing characters he called "acceptable terrorists", he instructed his agent to reject any role that painted Arabs or Middle Easterners in a "bad light". Later that year, he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Corporal Merrill "Snafu" Shelton in the Emmy Award-winning HBO World War II mini-series The Pacific. After the intensity of filming The Pacific, he chose to leave Hollywood and lived briefly in Argentina, though he says it was unsuccessful, and he has "since found better ways of coping". During the filming of The Pacific, Malek received a letter from executive producer Tom Hanks praising Malek's performance. Hanks then cast him as college student Steve Dibiasi in the feature film Larry Crowne, released in July 2011.