Barkhad Abdi

Barkhad Abdi is a SomaliAmerican actor and director. He made his debut in the 2013 film Captain Phillips, for which he received various film award nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture, and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, the latter of which he won.

Abdi was born in Mogadishu, Banaadir. Around the age of six or seven, when the Somali Civil War broke out, he and his family moved to Yemen to join his father, who had taken up teaching. In 1999, Abdi and his family relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where there is a large Somali community. He subsequently attended Minnesota State University Moorhead. Before entering the film industry, Abdi sold mobile phones at his brothers shop at a mall in Minneapolis. He also worked as a limousine driver at a relatives chauffeur company and a DJ.

Source: Wikipedia