Age: 52
male
Mahershala Ali (/məˈhɜːrʃələ/ mə-HUR-shə-lə; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore on February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, and in 2020, The New York Times ranked him among the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. After pursuing an MFA degree from New York University, Ali began his career as a regular on television series Crossing Jordan (2001–02) and Threat Matrix (2003–04), before his breakthrough role as Richard Tyler in the science fiction series The 4400 (2004–07). His first major film role was in the David Fincher-directed fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). He gained wider attention for supporting roles in the final two films of the original The Hunger Games film series and in House of Cards, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Ali won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances as a drug dealer in the drama Moonlight (2016) and as Don Shirley in the comedy-drama Green Book (2018). He is the first Black actor to win two Academy Awards in the same category and the second Black actor to win multiple acting Oscars. Ali won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program for executive producing We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (2020). In 2019, he played a troubled police officer in the third season of the HBO anthology crime series True Detective, and in 2020, he starred in the second season of the Hulu comedy-drama series Ramy. He was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for both performances. Ali has also played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in the first season of the Netflix series Luke Cage (2016) and voiced Aaron Davis in the animated films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). Description above from the Wikipedia article Mahershala Ali, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
York, called "Big Medicine" by the Native Americans, was an enslaved African American man who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their famous expedition to explore the western territories of the United States in the early 19th century. Despite being considered property at the time, York was a valuable member of the expedition, serving as a hunter, guide, and translator. He was one of the few members of the expedition to be well-regarded by both Lewis and Clark, who recognized his skills and bravery. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, took place from 1804 to 1806. Its goal was to explore the newly acquired western territories of the United States and find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. York was one of the few members of the expedition to complete the entire journey, which covered over 8,000 miles and took more than two years to complete. Despite his contributions to the expedition, York's role has often been downplayed or ignored in many historical accounts. Nevertheless, he remains an important figure in American history and is recognized for his bravery and perseverance in the face of adversity.
