Mahershala Ali on Faith, Love and Success

Death, Sex & Money

• Episode: Mahershala Ali on Faith, Love and Success
• Website: Death, Sex & Money
• Feed URL: http://feeds.wnyc.org/deathsexmoney
• Duration: 00:19:18
• Published: 2017-01-24 06:00

We met actor Mahershala Ali and his wife, the artist Amatus, last year in Brooklyn, a few months after he filmed his scenes for Barry Jenkins' film "Moonlight." Now, ten months later, Mahershala has earned his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Juan, a Miami drug dealer who takes the movie's main character, a young boy whose mother struggles with addiction, under his wing.

Just last month, Mahershala also announced some exciting personal news: He and Amatus are expecting their first child. 

Today, we're revisiting our conversation the the couple, which took place months before the buzz of awards season or news of their first baby. On stage in Brooklyn last March, we learned how Mahershala and Amatus first met when they were students at NYU, and how they reconnected years later after Amatus suffered a violent loss in her family. They also shared how their Muslim faith grounds them, and how it guides them through their careers today. 

Listen back to our entire live show with Mahershala and Amatus (as well as Rosie Perez, Hari Kondabolu, Lisa Fischer and more) from last March at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

And this... What a surprise. So much love.

A video posted by Amatus (@amatus23) on Dec 7, 2016 at 1:02pm PST

It looks like Amatus and Mahershala had a lot of fun at their baby shower last month!