Rami Malek

His parents and older sister left Cairo in 1978 after his father, a travel agent and tour guide, became intrigued with Western visitors.

They settled in Sherman Oaks, mostly staying in the San Fernando Valley.

As a child, Malek rarely ventured into Hollywood, saying "I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in LA, but somehow, I had no idea that I lived right next to Hollywood... I truly thought that that was a million miles away, and it's just a 10-minute drive".

His father sold insurance and was a travel agent, while his mother worked as an accountant.

Malek was raised in his family's Coptic Orthodox Christian faith, and spoke Egyptian Arabic at home until the age of four.

He has an identical twin brother named Sami, who is younger by four minutes and later became an ESL and English teacher.

His older sister, Yasmine, is an ER doctor.

His parents emphasized to their children the importance of preserving their Egyptian roots, and his father would wake him up in the middle of the night to talk on the phone to his Arabic-speaking extended family in Samalut.

As a first-generation American, Malek found it difficult to assimilate during his childhood because of cultural differences, even spending most of his childhood having his name mispronounced: "It only took me 'til high school where I found the confidence to tell everybody, 'No, my name is Rami.' It's a very upsetting thing to think about, that I didn't have the confidence to correct anyone at that point."

As a result, he said it was difficult to form a self-identity as a child and gravitated towards "creating characters and doing voices" as he searched for an outlet for his energy.

Malek attended Notre Dame High School, where he was in the same class as actress Rachel Bilson.

Actress Kirsten Dunst also attended the school and shared a musical theater class with him.

His parents harbored dreams of him becoming a lawyer, so he joined the debate team in his freshman year.

Though he struggled to form arguments, his debate teacher noted his talent in dramatic interpretation and encouraged him instead to perform the one-man play Zooman and The Sign at a competition.

Reflecting on the moment, he said, "On stage I'm having this moment with my dad with a bunch of other people [in the audience], but then I thought, 'Wow, something really special is happening here.'" It was the first time he saw his father become emotional, and his parents' positive reaction to his performance left him feeling free to pursue an acting career.

He and his brother were both involved in the school's drama department.

Rami Said Malek ( رامي سعيد مالك, ; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor.

Rami Said Malek was born in Torrance, California, on May 12, 1981, the son of Egyptian immigrant parents Nelly Abdel-Malek and Said Malek (d. 2006).

He has said he is also "an eighth Greek".

After graduating in 1999, Malek went on to study theater at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana.

He also spent a semester abroad in England, where he studied at Harlaxton College in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire.

During the summer before his senior year, he interned at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, where he became an acquaintance of playwright August Wilson.

Of his decision to attend the University of Evansville theater program, he said, "The level of talent at the University of Evansville was formidable from faculty to fellow actors. There's a commitment and dedication that the theater program required that unearthed a work ethic I didn't know I had."

He completed his BFA in 2003.

He had supporting roles in film and television, including the Fox sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007), the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), and the Night at the Museum film trilogy (2006–2014).

He is known for portraying computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and as Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category.

Since his breakthrough, Malek has starred in Papillon (2017), the crime film The Little Things (2021), played the main antagonist Lyutsifer Safin in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021), and portrayed David Hill in Christopher Nolan's biographical film Oppenheimer (2023).

The college later honored him with a 2017 Young Alumnus Award, given to those who have "achieved personal success and contribute services to their community and to UE".

After his college graduation, Malek wanted to attend grad school for theater; with college debt growing, he moved to New York, where he shared a one-bedroom Lower East Side apartment with friends who were also in the theater community.

His network of friends included writers and directors, many of whom would come together to form the Slant Theatre Project, and they would perform their own plays around the city.

While visiting his family in Los Angeles, Malek met casting director Mali Finn, who convinced him to stay and look for work in Hollywood.

After moving back in with his parents, he took jobs delivering pizzas and making falafel and shawarma sandwiches at a restaurant in Hollywood to make ends meet.

Despite sending his resume to production houses, he found it difficult to get work as an actor, which led to bouts of depression and a loss of confidence.

He considered getting a real estate license instead of pursuing an acting career.

After a year and a half, Malek finally received a call from casting director Mara Casey.

She asked to speak to his agent.

When he confessed he did not have one, she told him to get one first.

After having a pleasant conversation, however, Malek suggested they meet anyway.

Time magazine named Malek one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.

Born in Torrance, California, to Egyptian immigrant parents, he studied theater before acting in plays in New York City.