Rami Said Malek is an American TV and film actor. He has worked in different TV series and films like ‘The War at Home’, ‘Night at the Museum trilogy,’ HBO’s ‘The Pacific’ miniseries, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
Malek has won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Critics’ Choice Award, as well as nominations for Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award, and TCA Award.
As of May 2018, Malek is playing the role of Freddie Mercury, the famous lead singer of the rock band ‘Queen’ in the biographical drama movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’
Early Life and Education
Rami was born on 12th May, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. He has Greek-Egyptian and Egyptian Coptic ancestry. His mother worked as an accountant and his father worked as a tour guide when in Cairo and then became an insurance salesman.
Rami has an older sister named Yasmine and a twin identical brother, Sami. The former is a doctor while the latter works as a teacher.
Rami went to the Notre Dame High School located in Sherman Oaks, CA. He graduated from school with actress Rachel Bilson in 1999. Actress, Kirsten Dunst studied a grade below Malek in high school and the two of them had a musical theater class together. Rami then attended the University of Evansville, Indiana, and graduated in 2003 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts.
Career
- Rami started his career in acting in 2004 with a guest role in the television series ‘Gilmore Girls.
- He acted in 2 episode of ‘Over There’ war drama in 2005 and was appreciated for his work with a Screen Actors Guild card. In 2005, he also worked in ‘The War at Home’ telecast on Fox.
- He made his film debut in 2006 with the hit movie ‘Night at the Museum’ as Pharaoh Ahkmenrah. He reprised the character in the 2009 and 2014 sequels.
- In 2007, Malek acted on stage at LA’s Elephant Theatre in ‘The Credeaux Canvas’ of Vitality Productions.
- In 2010, he was cast in a recurring role in season 8 of the hit series ’24.’ The same year, he acted in ‘The Pacific.’ The role was so intense, that Malek left the US and lived in Argentina for some time. In 2011, he played the role of a college student in Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts staring movie ‘Larry Crowne.’ In 2012, he appeared in Spike Lee remake of ‘Oldboy.’
- In 2013, Rami acted opposite Brie Larson in the indie flick ‘Short Term 12.’ He also had short roles in ‘The Master,’ ‘Battleship’, and ‘Aint Them Bodies Saints’
- Since 2015, Malek has appeared in ‘Mr. Robot’ in the lead role. It is a psychological computer-hacker drama that airs on USA Network. He won several acting nominations and awards for this show.
- In 2016, Rami got his first starring role in the movie ‘Mal Heart.’ In 2017, he acted in the movie ‘Papillon.’
- Malek was cast as Freddie Mercury in the movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in late 2016. The movie released to good reviews in May 2018 and his peformances has been universally appreciated.
How did Rami Malek prepare to play Freddie Mercury?
To get into Freddie Mercury’s shoes, Malek shifted base to London , where he worked with a dialect coach and a body language coach. He also took singing and piano lessons. Every day for four hurs, Malek studied Freddie Mercury’s videos along with his body language coach. It is reported that he watched the 1985 Live Aid concert on YouTube 1500 times to get the body language and moves perfect as the original singer. Though there are physical differnces between Mercury and Malek, the latter adapted himself well by constant practice and will power. When you see Bohemian Rhapsody, you tend to forget that he is Rami Malek, which is a hallmark of a great actor.
Head of the makeup department, Jan Sewell stated that as Rami Malek’s nose was slighly bigger than Freddie Mercury’s, they put a small prosthetic nose to give him the straight nose that Freddie had. The nose also helped narrow Malek’s eyes closely as it was in the case of Mercury. One thing both Malek and Mercury share are well-defined jawlines, and Sewell worked on defining Malek’s further so that it look very similar to Freddie’s.
Movement coach Polly Benett is the brains behind the fantastic body language incorporated by Malek so well, in the movie. In her words, everyone has a particular movement based and gait, based on what they have seen, experrienced, their family influence, the environment they are in. Since Freddie was more of a sprinter in his younger days, she worked in getting the movement right for Malek. The Live Aid event shoot and Rami Malek’s performance was accurate, because he matched the legendary icon gesture by gesture, beat by beat, breathed at the right time, moved and flipped the microphone at the right time and playing the piano, vibed with the audience and played the chord in the most imitable manner possible.
Rami says that he got hands on Freddie Mercury’s phonebook and tried to get in touch with everyone the singer knew. Malek also tried to get into the brains of Queen Band members especially Roger and Brian to know more about the legendary performer. He spoke to contemporaries like Bono, Sting, Boy George and many others. In his words, “Where the producers got the idea from Mr. Robot of all things that I could play Freddie Mercury, is beyond me. But you know, I put my nose down and gave it my all.”
Malek says, “The gift of playing Freddie Mercury means everything to me. He struggled so much with every aspect of his identity, heritage and even his sexual identity. But he channelized all of it into being one of the boldest, audacious, authentic, confident, spectacular and defiant human beings, the world has ever seen.” Malek believes that at the end of the day, Freddie Mercury’s story and his music, will outlive us all.
Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury (Live Aid Pictures’ Similarity)
Rami Malek – Girlfriend
Malek is currently dating actress Lucy Boynton, his co-star in the film Bohemian Rhapsody. The two met for the first time, when they were shooting in London for the movie.
Rami Malek – Height
The actor is 5 feet 6 inches tall. He is a couple of inches shorter than Freddie Mercury, who was 5 feet 8 inches tall.
Personal Life and Trivia
- He was previously dating actress Portia Doubleday.
- He is a star in different videogames, including “The Legend of Korra” and PS4 horror game ‘Until Dawn’
- In 2017, he got an invitation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to become a member
Rami Malek – Net Worth
Rami’s net worth is estimated to be around $5 million.