Mahershala Ali, Photo Credit: People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, SAG Awards
Mahershala Ali (class of 2000) won two Screen Actors Guild Awards this past Sunday, outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for 'Moonlight' and outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture for Hidden Figures.
Here is an excerpt from his moving acceptance speech for Moonlight:
"I think what I've learned from working on Moonlight is we see what happens when you persecute people, they fold into themselves, and what I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan was playing a gentleman. I saw a young man folding into himself as a result of the persecution of his community and taking that opportunity to uplift him and tell him that he mattered, that he was okay, and accept him. And I hope that we do a better job of that. When we kind of get caught up in the minutiae, the details that make us all different, I think there's two ways of seeing that, there's an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique, and then there's an opportunity to go to war about it and say, 'That that person's different from me,' and 'I don't like you. So, let's battle.' She didn't do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago, but I tell you now, we put things to the side, and I'm able to see her. She's able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown, and that stuff is minutiae. It's not that important."
— Mahershala Ali, Screen Actors Guild Award Acceptance Speech