"I love film. I've always been enchanted by doing film. It's something I grew up watching - classics and directors I admire - so that's something I've always been passionate about."
Rami Said Malek (born May 12, 1981 in Torrance, California) is an American actor of Coptic Egyptian descent.
He won the 68th Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his work as Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot, which was his Star-Making Role. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Amusingly, his later role in Oppenheimer means he's been in the two highest grossing biopics in history (the other being Bohemian Rhapsody).
Roles
- Gilmore Girls (2005) as Andy
- Medium (2005) as Timothy Kercher
- The War at Home (2005 - 2007) as Kenny
- Night at the Museum as Ahkmenrah
- Night at the Museum (2006)
- Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
- Secret of the Tomb (2014)
- The Pacific (2010) as Merriel "Snafu" Shelton
- 24 (2010) as Marcos Al-Zacar
- Larry Crowne (2011) as Steve
- The Legend of Korra (2012) as Tahno
- Battleship (2012) as Lt. Hill
- Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) as Benjamin
- The Master (2012) as Clark
- Short Term 12 (2013) as Nate
- Need for Speed (2014) as Finn
- Mr. Robot (2015 - 2019) as Elliot Alderson
- Until Dawn (2015) as Josh Washington
- Papillon (2017) as Louis Dega
- Bojack Horseman (2017 - 2018) as Flip McVicker
- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) as Freddie Mercury (Academy Award winner for Best Actor; Golden Globe winner for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama)
- Dolittle (2020) as Chee-Chee
- The Little Things (2021) as Jim Baxter
- No Time to Die (2021) as Lyutsifer Safin
- Amsterdam (2022) as Tom Voze
- Oppenheimer (2023) as David Hill
Tropes
- Creepy Monotone: He often plays characters who talk like this. It can be a little jarring to see him in real life where he's noticeably more lively.
- Face of a Thug: In his Saturday Night Live monologue he commented that he tends to play intense, dramatic characters, because he has "resting villain face".
- Fake Brit: As Freddie Mercury, who was British-Parsi.
- Fake Nationality: An American who has played a Kamistani (judging by the name, somewhere in south/central Asia or perhaps the Caucasus), a fantasy!North Asian, and a Parsi-Brit, among others. In an unusual coincidence, while he has played Americans (e.g. the Cajun Merriel Shelton in The Pacific) and Egyptians (e.g. Ahkmenrah in Night at the Museum and Benjamin in Breaking Dawn), he has never actually played an American of Egyptian descent (unless Alderson's family changed its name at some time).
- Fake Russian: As Lyutsifer Safin in No Time to Die.
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: Inverted. He's most famous for playing a socially awkward, serious character but interviews show that he's much more lively, outgoing and funny in real life.
- Older Than They Look: He's in his forties but can still easily pass for his twenties.
- Phenotype Stereotype: His light skin and blue eyes have thrown some viewers off in regards to his ethnicity, even though these features aren't exactly unheard of in North Africa. Amusingly, a few people even complained
when he was cast in Night at the Museum, accusing the movie of whitewashing Egyptians. Malek is an Egyptian (although he is of partial Greek descent, but still of Coptic heritage — the Coptic language is directly descended from Ancient Egyptian and not Arabic). - Reclusive Artist: He has social media pages, but is rarely active on them.
- Romance on the Set: Began dating Lucy Boynton on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: Many people have commented on the resemblance between Malek and Pete Davidson. It came to the point where they impersonated each other in a skit when Malek hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.
- Speech Impediment: Though he can hide it when he's acting, he has a lisp that's very common with Egyptians speaking English. Presumably he picked it up from his family.
- Vocal Dissonance: His unusually deep voice can be a sharp contrast to his youthful appearance.
- Waif-Fu: He usually plays characters who are this. Be it Elliot from Mr. Robot, Louis Dega in Papillon, Jim in The Little Things or Safin in No Time to Die.
