Mahershala Ali becomes first Muslim actor to win Oscar

Mahershala Ali has grabbed an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance in ‘Moonlight’, becoming the first Muslim to win an Oscar for an acting role.

Portraying a drug dealer in ‘Moonlight’, Ali won the golden statuette at the 89th edition of the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday.

It has been a very successful year for Ali, who starred in the series ‘Luke Cage’ and also had a role in another Oscar-nominated film, ‘Hidden Figures’.

Accepting the award, the 43-year-old actor paid tribute to his teachers, ‘Moonlight’ director Barry Jenkins and his wife, who gave birth to their daughter four days earlier.

Portraying a conflicted drug dealer, Juan, who takes Chiron under his wing, he also received an award for Best Supporting Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and a nomination at the Golden Globes this year.

Converting to Islam in 1999, Ali said at the SAG Awards, “We see what happens when you persecute people - they fold into themselves.”

Muslims have already won Academy Awards, including Pakistani documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, but no Muslim had taken the statuette for acting.

“If you convert to Islam after a couple of decades of being a black man in the US, the discrimination you receive as a Muslim doesn't feel like a shock,” Ali said.

Ali's victory was also a much-needed Oscar win for an African-American actor after a long hiatus when Forest Whitaker received top acting honors for ‘The Last King of Scotland’ in 2006.

Ali's Oscar nomination was one of several for colored actors and actresses this year, a reversal from last year's all-white slate of nominees that provoked a backlash.

The 89th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films of 2016 on February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

MG/AI