Mahershala Ali

A small budget indie movie about black queer romance was named Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday night. Let that sink in for a moment.

If you’re a tourist in Hollywood and desperate to catch some celebrity sightings, you’re probably going to hop on a tour bus. If you’re on one of those on Oscar night you likely won’t see anyone famous walking the streets, unless, of course, you’re a part of a Jimmy Kimmel prank.

Mahershala Ali has been swooping up accolades and nominations for months now, all leading up to his big win on Oscar night. On Sunday the Moonlight actor took home the prize for Best Supporting Actor for his role as drug dealer Juan.

After months of hype and controversy, the big night is finally upon us. The red carpet has been rolled out, the votes have been cast, and host Jimmy Kimmel has rehearsed all his best Matt Damon jokes. At last, the 89th Academy Awards have arrived.

Last month, it was announced that Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum were in talks to team up for Triple Frontier, a film set in the crime-ridden border zone between three South American countries. It looks like they’re not only both a done deal, they’re also getting a third member to round out the cast: Moonlight and Luke Cage star and recent SAG Award winner Mahershala Ali.

Just when pundits had begun to reduce the Oscar fracas to a two-horse race between toe-tapping populist favorite La La Land and critically-adored downbeat character piece Moonlight, a possible spoiler has come out of nowhere. Last night, the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards gave Hollywood’s union of performers a chance to recognize some of their own whom had done outstanding work over the past year. The most coveted award of the ceremony is the prize for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture, regarded by some as a bellweather for Oscar night, and it went to unexpected contender Hidden Figures.

Game of Thrones has had its share of recasts and near-misses over the years, but it’s genuinely saddening to miss out on the great Mahershala Ali. The Moonlight and Luke Cage star apparently put in for a role in Season 2 (admittedly not the best), revealing what thwarted his audition in a new interview.

Is there a more stressful month for film fans than December? Not only are most of us trying to stay on top of our normal holiday stress  —  picking up gifts for our family and friends and dreading time spent in airports and train stations  —  we are also trying to fit in as many movies as possible before the end of the year. Whether you write about film, participate in an office Academy Award pool, or just like watching good movies, there’s nothing like cramming movies into every spare second of an already packed mo

Mahershala Ali might have caught the villain bug. Currently he plays Cottonmouth, the powerful and terrifying bad guy featured in the first season of Netflix and Marvel’s Luke Cage, and soon he might appear as another villain type in James Cameron’s live-action adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel.