Mahershala Ali may soon be bringing home an Oscar to keep his Screen Actors Guild awards company, but even those coveted awards don’t compare to becoming a dad for the first time.
The Moonlight star, 42, is expecting his first child with wife Amatus Sami-Karim. Ali previously revealed that her due date falls within days of the Academy Awards ceremony.
“You couldn’t write it this way!” Ali told Entertainment Tonight at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “I’d watch that movie and be like, ‘Okay, who make that up?’ ”
So how does he manage it all? With the help of a wonderful wife who isn’t afraid to rock both heels and a baby bump on the awards show red carpet.
“A big help is I have a supportive partner who loves me and gets it and has been a soldier throughout this,” the actor shares.
But Ali admits he still struggles to find the balance between his work obligations and his personal life.
“It’s been very challenging, and I’m working on another job as well,” he explains. “That’s tough … It’s always a fight to try and balance it, and you’re not going to, that’s the thing.”
He continues, “You have to just realize that you are going to, in some way shape or form, neglect some aspect of your life that needs to be tended to and that’s hard.”
With such a busy schedule, Ali says he’s barely gotten a chance to fully take in his award-season success.
“You don’t get a break to really be reflective,” he says. “That’s the only thing I look forward to this, about this being over, is that I get to look back and appreciate the time.”
“But right now just taking it a day at a time and really enjoying the opportunities we get to share the film.”