Four days before receiving his trophy for Best Supporting Actor as the Oscars, Mahershala Ali was already feeling like a winner. The "Moonlight" star and his wife Amatus Sami-Karim just welcomed their first-born baby daughter Bari Najma Ali. The first-time dad celebrated his first Oscar win with the new baby.
Ali, 43, thanked his wife and newborn as he accepted the golden trophy, according to Vanity Fair. Ali was recognized for his role as Juan, the drug dealer and father figure to Ashton Sanders' Chiron in "Moonlight," a coming-of-age story about a young man.
At the Oscars red carpet, Ali revealed he's feeling "a special kind of tired" as the sleepless nights have started at his home with his baby girl. Nevertheless, the actor said he's grateful for what has happened in his life in the past year. "It's been a good time," he said, according to People.
Meanwhile, Ali opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about losing his father after his parents split up when he was only 3-years-old. He related that his parents had him at such a young age, which is why the union didn't last.
"My mom and dad were kids," the Oscar winner said. "I know that they loved me and did the best they could do."
As a child growing up without his biological dad, Ali said he developed depression. It worsened when he met his strict stepfather and his relationship with his mother has strained. At age 20, Ali learned his real father died. "I felt defeated," he told THR.
Feeling lost, the actor eventually found solace in becoming a Muslim and changed his religion in his mid-20s, much to the disappointment of his deeply Christian mom. He's the first Muslim actor to be bestowed an Oscar, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Ali, however, has come full circle and has reconciled with his traumatic past. "[My mom] basically told me she accepted that was my path, and she's been really supportive of that choice. We are in an extraordinarily positive place today," he told THR.
