Barkhad Abdi (Barkhad Cabdi)

Who is he?

Barkhad Abdi is a Somali actor (Wikipedia, Barkhad Abdi). His first role, in Captain Phillips (2013), won him the British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor (same source).

Early life

He was born in Mogadishu on 10 April 1985 (Wikipedia). His parents are Majeerteen, of the Omar Mahmoud branch (same source). The name Barkhad means "cistern" in Somali (same source). When the civil war broke out, his family moved to Yemen, where his father was teaching (same source). In 1999 the family moved to Minneapolis (same source). See Somalis in Yemen and Somalis in Minneapolis and St Paul.

He finished Roosevelt High School in 2003 and attended Minnesota State University Moorhead (same source). Before acting, he sold mobile phones at his brother's shop, drove a limousine and worked as a DJ (same source).

Captain Phillips

In 2011 he joined more than 700 people at an open casting call in Minneapolis (same source). He and three other Somali men were chosen (same source). In Paul Greengrass's film he played Abduwali Muse, leader of the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, opposite Tom Hanks (same source). He was paid 65,000 dollars and went back to work at his brother's shop afterwards (same source).

On 16 February 2014 he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in London (HuffPost UK, February 2014). He beat Bradley Cooper, Daniel Brühl, Matt Damon and Michael Fassbender (same source). The Star Tribune reported celebrations in Minneapolis that night (Star Tribune, February 2014). He was also nominated for the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award (Wikipedia).

Later work

He played a Kenyan undercover agent in Eye in the Sky (2015) (same source). In The Pirates of Somalia (2017) he played a local fixer for a Canadian journalist (same source). He had a role in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (same source). He was a regular in the second season of the series Castle Rock (2019) and appeared in The Curse (2023) (same source). He directed the Somali film Ciyaalka Xaafada and several music videos (same source).

In 2013 he became an ambassador for Adeso, an aid organisation founded by the Somali environmentalist Fatima Jibrell (same source). See Somali music and media in Somalia.

In short

A Mogadishu-born actor raised in Yemen and Minneapolis who won a BAFTA for his first film role in Captain Phillips and has since worked in film and television.