Mahershala Ali
Ali converted to Islam in 2000. During the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards, the “Moonlight” star gave a passionate speech about the importance of loving each other despite our differences.
“My mother is an ordained minister, I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago,” he said. “But I tell you now, we put things to the side, I’m able to see her, she’s able to see me, we love each other, the love has grown. That stuff is minutiae. It’s not that important.”
Ali is also the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award.
