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Marvel's Luke Cage

We’d probably be doing a Meet Queue about Mahershala Ali if he only had one of his big 2016 projects coming out. A featured role in the latest Marvel TV series for Netflix OR a featured role in one of this season’s best Oscar hopefuls would have done it. Both in the same month?! Time to get yourselves familiar quickly.

In Marvel’s Luke Cage, Ali plays Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, a more-than-worthy foe for our titular invincible tough guy. Mike Colter cuts such a sturdy screen presence, it takes someone with just enough gravitas to stand opposed to him, and Ali does exactly that. And then you get a movie like Moonlight, the Barry Jenkins-directed drama about a young black kid growing up and dealing with bullies and sexuality and drugs. In this environment that is so hostile to the film’s main character stands Juan, played by Ali as a figure of unexpected decency and strength. It’s a brief performance, but he’s one of a handful of actors you exit the movie thinking about. It’s a performance that has more than a few people talking about a possible Oscar nomination.

Ali’s been building to this for a while now, and with Moonlight opening on October 21st, there’s no better time to get onboard. If you swear you’ve seen him someplace before or if you’re looking to become your peer group’s first Mahershala Ali completistist, take this tour through the actor’s career.

Crossing Jordan (2001-02)

Ali played medical examiner Trey Sanders for the first season of the Jill Hennessy drama, before departing for other things and being replaced by Lorraine Toussaint, which isn’t too bad, all things considered. Seeing as Crossing Jordan also served as a launching pad for Kathryn Hahn, it’s probably about time we start looking at that show’s place in history again.

[Where to watch Crossing Jordan]

The 4400 (2004-07)

The USA network’s sci-fi series about abducted people returning to Earth all at once was kind of low-budge and has been largely forgotten by history, but it was a solid little yarn there. Ali played one such returnee, Richard Tyler, who was abducted in the Jim Crow ’50s and placed back into a different world.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2007)

David Fincher’s Oscar-nominated magical-realist love story was Ali’s biggest stage yet. He played husband to Taraji P. Henson’s character, Queenie, who finds old-man-baby Benjamin Button, and they raise him together.

[Where to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Derek Cianfrance’s multi-generational drama about the awful things sons inherit from their fathers was not as successful as it should have been. Ali had a decent role, too, as the guy Eva Mendes marries after Ryan Gosling’s career as a petty criminal goes bad.

[Where to stream The Place Beyond the Pines]

House of Cards (2013-16)

This is a big one, and probably the role that most people will recognize him from. Remy Danton is a skilled lobbyist and an often-formidable foil for Claire and Frank Underwood. He’s been their enemy, he’s been their ally, but you always get the sense he has his eye squarely on where his own two feet are planted.

[Where to stream House Cards]

The Hunger Games (2014-15)

Ali shows up as Boggs in Mockingjay, Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2, a rebellion fighter who ends being one of Katniss’s most formidable allies.

[Where to watch The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1]

[Where to watch The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2]

Free State of Jones (2016)

And now we’re on to Mahershala’s breakthrough 2016. The ill-conceived, Matthew McConaughey-starring historical drama about a man who fought to keep his land and family free in the midst of Civil-War Mississippi. Ali played the leader of a band of runaway slaves.

[Where to watch Free State of Jones]

Luke Cage (2016)

As stated above, Ali plays a brilliant main villain Cottonmouth Stokes, who might be THE highlight of the first half of season 1. It’s a star-making performance in what is turning out to be a star-making year for the actor.

[Where to stream Marvel’s Luke Cage]

Moonlight (2016)

The only thing that would stand between Mahershala Ali and his first Oscar nomination is that Moonlight is so good. For one thing, the movie’s intensity is on a low simmer throughout, which makes for a great film but which doesn’t always scream out to Oscar voters. For another, the cast of chock-full of award-worthy performances, and almost all of them will be competing for Best Supporting Actor.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Hey! It’s Taraji P. Henson and Mahershala Ali as on-screen man and wife yet again. In Hidden Figures, Ali plays the supportive husband to NASA genius Taraji as she works on the space-launch program. That movie is set to open by the end of the year, closing out Ali’s killer 2016 in style.