Mahershala Ali won his second Oscar after being the 1st Division 1 college basketball player to win one

Mahershala Ali took home the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Green Book on Sunday night, following up from his 2017 win for his incredible portrayal of Juan in Moonlight, but the Academy Award-winning actor had a life before the screen you probably didn’t know about.

Ali was always interested in acting, but while attending college he was on a basketball scholarship. He played for St. Mary’s from 1992-96 under his given name, Mahershala Gilmore. It’s safe to say that his time as an actor was a lot more fruitful than being a college basketball player.

Ali initially had a passion for basketball, but things changed when he began playing at St. Mary’s. A profile of the actor from 2011 explains that Ali’s life underwent major upheaval when his father died during his junior year. He began throwing his energy into being an artist, and by the end of his college career he no longer had any passion for basketball.


Now Ali is the first college basketball player in history who also has an Academy Award, let alone two. We’re so glad he made the switch, too, because Moonlight was incredible and he was so friggin’ good as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in Luke Cage.

(h/t Hoops Hype)

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