Arab Americans

Rami Malek

Rami Said Malek (born May 12, 1981) is an Egyptian-American actor.

Malek studied acting at the University of Evansville and began his Hollywood career in guest-roles on several television shows before making his feature film debut in Night at the Museum (2006). He was a regular on the FOXcomedy series The War at Home (2005-2007) and on the HBO miniseriesThe Pacific (2010). Malek appeared in Larry Crowne (2011) and had integral parts in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master and in the final installment ofThe Twilight Saga (2012). In 2013, he appeared in the independent filmsAin’t Them Bodies Saints, the remake of Oldboy and starred in the critically praised Short Term 12. The following year, he appeared in Need for Speed,Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Spike Lee‘s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.

Since 2015, he plays the lead role of Elliot Alderson in the USA series Mr. Robot .

Malek was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents of Egyptian descent,^[1][2][3] and has an identical twin brother named Sami.^[1][4][5] Malek attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California and received his Bachelor of Fine Artsdegree from the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana in 2003.^[6][7]

Career

In 2004, Malek began his acting career with guest-starring roles on several notable television series including Gilmore Girls, Over There, and Medium, as well as voicing “additional characters” for the video game Halo 2 (for which he was uncredited).^[6] In 2005, he was cast as the prominent recurring role of “Kenny”, the gay teenage next-door-neighbor on theFOX comedy series The War at Home.^[2][8]

In 2006, Malek made his feature film debut as Pharaoh Ahkmenrah in the comedy Night at the Museum and reprised his role in the sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb(2014).^[6] In the spring of 2007 he appeared onstage as “Jamie” in the Vitality Productions theatrical presentation of Keith Bunin‘s The Credeaux Canvas at the Elephant Theatre in Los Angeles.^[2][9]

In 2010 Malek returned to television in a recurring role as the Egyptian American suicide bomber Marcos Al-Zacar on the 8th season of the Fox series 24.^[6] Later that same year, he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Corporal Merriell “Snafu” Shelton on the Emmy Award-winning HBO World War II mini-series The Pacific.^{[3][4][10][11][12]}

During filming of The Pacific, Malek met executive producer Tom Hanks, who was impressed with his performance and would later cast him as college student Steve Dibiasi in the feature film Larry Crowne, released in July 2011.^[3][4][11] In August 2010 it was announced that Malek had been cast as the Egyptian vampire, “Benjamin”, in the final installment of the popular Twilight franchise, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.^[13][14][15]

Malek plays the lead role in the USA Network computer-hacker drama, Mr. Robot, along with Christian Slater. The show is executive produced by Sam Esmail (Comet) and Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin (True Detective) and Chad Hamilton (Breakup at a Wedding).^[16] Mr. Robot premiered on June 24, 2015, while the pilot aired in May 2015.

Filmography

Films

Television[edit]

Video games

References