Rami Malek
Birthdate: May 12, 1981 (45 Years Old)
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Rami Malek (birthname: Rami Said Malek) is an Oscar and Emmy-winning actor who has tackled a wide range of roles and genres, starting in feature films with his repeated role as Pharoah Ahkmenrah (his only role whose character is, like Malek himself, of Egyptian heritage) in the Night at the Museum franchise, including Night at the Museum (2006), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), all starring Ben Stiller and grossing a cumulative $1.35 billion.
Malek was cast by star/director/writer/producer Tom Hanks for his rom-com, Larry Crowne (2011), co-starring Julia Roberts, with Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wilmer Valderrama and Pam Grier, followed by small supporting roles in three major American movies: the Peter Berg-directed big-screen version of Hasbro’s Battleship (2012); the Bill Condon-directed sequel, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (2012); and Paul Thomas Anderson’s factionalized account of the rise of L. Ron Hubbard, The Master (2012), starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.
Malek then appeared in two important American indie movies—director/writer David Lowery’s crime drama, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster, and director/writer Destin Daniel Cretton’s drama, Short Term 12 (2013), with Brie Larson and John Gallagher, Jr.—and then was cast by filmmaker Spike Lee for the cast of his failed English-language remake of Park Chan-wook’s action thriller, Oldboy (2013), co-starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley. Malek landed a supporting role in the Disney/DreamWorks Pictures crime drama based on Electronic Arts' racing video game, Need for Speed (2014), starring Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, and Scott Mescudi, grossing over $203 million on a $66 million budget.
Rami Malek reunited with Spike Lee in his biggest role to date in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014), the updated remake of Bill Gunn’s surreal horror movie, Ganja & Hess (1973). Malek then had his first starring role in another surrealist movie, Buster’s Mal Heart (2016), by director/writer/editor Sarah Adina Smith, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before a release by Well Go USA Entertainment.
Malek co-starred with Charlie Hunnam—thus taking on the role played by Dustin Hoffman—in the remake of the prison drama, Papillon (2017), directed by Michael Noer in an unusual Malta/Montenegro/U.S./Serbia co-production and released by Bleecker Street after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Malek had his career breakthrough and earned a Best Actor Oscar playing Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Joe Mazzello, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers under Bryan Singer’s direction, and returning a phenomenal $911 million for 20th Century Fox.
Rami Malek did a voice role in the poorly received remake, Dolittle (2020), starring Robert Downey Jr., losing $50-$100 million for Universal Pictures. Malek co-starred with Denzel Washington in director/writer/co-producer John Lee Hancock’s crime thriller for Warner Bros., The Little Things (2021), with Jared Leto and Natalie Morales, and then Malek co-starred in his first major bad-guy role and his first Bond movie, No Time to Die (2021), with Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes under Cary Joji Fukunaga’s direction, and grossing over $774 million for producers MGM/Eon Productions and distributors United Artists Releasing (US)/Universal Pictures (ex-US).
Malek joined the sprawling cast of director/writer/producer David O. Russell’s free-wheeling mystery comedy, Amsterdam (2022), starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola and Robert De Niro, but losing over $100 million for 20th Century Studios.
Malek joined another impressive ensemble in a considerably more successful project—filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s seven-Oscar-winning saga, Oppenheimer (2023), starring Cillian Murphy, with Oscar-winning Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, and grossing $976 million for Universal Pictures.
Rami Malek was a star and executive producer for the spy drama remake, The Amateur (2025), based on Robert Littell’s 1981 novel, and co-starring Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Julianne Nicholson, and released by 20th Century Studios.
Malek then portrayed psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who interviewed Nazi prisoners for the Nuremberg trials, in director/writer/producer James Venderbilt’s historical drama, Nuremberg (date to be announced), co-starring Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant and Colin Hanks, and produced by Walden Media/Bluestone Entertainment.
Personal life
Rami Malek was born in Torrance, California, and was raised in Torrance and Sherman Oaks, California, by mother Nelly and father Said (insurance salesman, travel agent). Malek has two siblings—twin brother Sami and sister Yasmine, an ER doctor born in Cairo, Egypt. Malek attended and graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he attended a musical theater class with classmate Kirsten Dunst. Malek majored in Theater at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana, earning his BFA in 2003, and also studied theater at Harlaxton College in England and interned at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Malek was in a relationship with actor Lucy Boynton from 2018 to 2023. Malek was then in a relationship with British actor Emma Corrin. Malek’s height is 5’ 7½ ”. Malek’s estimated net worth is $20 million.
Rami Malek Movies
Actor
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Previous (15)
- 2022 |
- 2021 |
The Little Things
asJim Baxter
Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.
- 2021 |
No Time to Die
asLyutsifer Safin
James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
- 2020 |
- 2018 |
Bohemian Rhapsody
asFreddie Mercury
With his impeccable vocal abilities, Freddie Mercury and his rock band, Queen, achieve superstardom. However, amidst his skyrocketing success, he grapples with his ego, sexuality and a fatal illness.
- 2018 |
- 2017 |
Buster's Mal Heart
asBuster
A family man's chance encounter with a conspiracy-obsessed drifter leaves him on the run from the police and an impending event known as the Inversion.
- -- | as Heller
- -- | Need for Speedas Finn
- -- | Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tombas Ahkmenrah
- -- | as Kenny
- -- | Night at the Museumas Ahkmenrah
- -- | Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonianas Ahkmenrah
- -- | as Douglas Kelley
- -- | as Kenny
Facts About Rami Malek
Heritage: Rami Malek was raised speaking Egyptian Arabic until he was four years old, and was raised in the Coptic Orthodox Christian church by his Egyptian-born parents.
Bro: Malek and his twin brother, Rami, purchased a home in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2009, and then Malek bought the neighboring house in 2021.
