---
name: "Barkhad Abdi"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/barkhad-abdi"
fi1m_id: "barkhad-abdi"
imdb_id: "nm5831542"
tmdb_id: 1261694
wikidata_id: "Q15381644"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "10 April 1985"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-11T23:18:47.263130+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Barkhad Abdi

## Identity

Barkhad Abdi

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/barkhad-abdi
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** barkhad-abdi
- **IMDb ID:** nm5831542
- **TMDB ID:** 1261694
- **Wikidata ID:** Q15381644
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkhad_Abdi, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15381644, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5831542/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1261694

Actor. Born 10 April 1985 in Mogadishu, Somalia.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 10 April 1985, Mogadishu, Somalia
- **Active:** 2013–present
- **Also known as:** Μπαρκάντ Αμπντί, Barkhad Abdinasir Abdi, بارخاد عبدی
- **BAFTA Film Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 80 (4), 2020s 77 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 79 to 77 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 4 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Thriller 3, Action 1, Comedy 1, Crime 1, Science Fiction 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $500m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkhad_Abdi, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15381644, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5831542/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1261694

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Captain Phillips*](https://film.one/film/captain-phillips.md) (83)
- **Tubi:** [*Good Time*](https://film.one/film/good-time.md) (82)
- **Apple TV:** [*The Curse*](https://film.one/tv/the-curse.md) (77)
- **Pluto TV:** [*Eye in the Sky*](https://film.one/film/eye-in-the-sky.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Barkhad Abdi

> Barkhad Abdi makes authority look difficult to maintain, with desperation beneath the orders. We rate him highly for *Captain Phillips*, where he makes Muse frightening without letting us mistake his bravado for security.

Muse gives an order as though he cannot risk hearing a question in return. In *Captain Phillips* (2013), Barkhad Abdi makes the effort behind that certainty visible: his character needs to be obeyed, and needs others to believe he expects nothing else. The threat is convincing because he never seems comfortably in charge. We can see the desperation without being asked to excuse the violence. That is a substantial achievement for a part that could so easily have been reduced to menace.

Paul Greengrass gets much of the tension from Abdi’s exchanges with Tom Hanks, each man testing how much confidence the other has left. We found them unnerving because Abdi makes every order sound liable to be challenged. Hanks’s Phillips has his own uncertainties, though the men’s immediate circumstances are hardly equal. Billy Ray’s screenplay is weaker when it spells out the comparison between their lives. The opening explains too much; Abdi is more persuasive when he simply shows us the strain of keeping control.

*Captain Phillips* was his acting debut, followed by a career largely in supporting parts. Those include the military thriller *Eye in the Sky* (2015) and the Safdie brothers’ *Good Time* (2017), in which he plays Dash, a park security guard. He also plays Doc Badger in *Blade Runner 2049* (2017). These are smaller opportunities than Muse, and we would hesitate to judge the extent of his abilities from them.

Abdi has frequently been cast in roles drawing on Somali or East African experience, often involving conflict or marginalisation. We would be wary of treating that pattern as proof of what he cannot play, just as a persuasive debut cannot answer every question about an actor. Muse gives us good reason for confidence: Abdi makes a dangerous man’s insecurity clear without stopping a thriller to explain it. We would welcome a leading part that did not require him to frighten anyone.

## Biography

Barkhad Abdi is a Somali actor. He made his acting debut as pirate leader Abduwali Muse in the 2013 film *Captain Phillips*, directed by Paul Greengrass. Prior to this, Abdi had no professional acting experience and was working in Minneapolis, Minnesota, including as a limousine driver and in a mobile phone shop.

For his performance in *Captain Phillips*, Abdi won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and received nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has since appeared in films including *Eye in the Sky* (2015), *Good Time* (2017) as Dash the Park Security Guard, and *Blade Runner 2049* (2017).

Abdi was born on 10 April 1985 in Mogadishu, Somalia, and moved with his family to the United States in 1999, settling in Minneapolis.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *The Curse* (2023), Fi1m 77, as Abshir — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-curse.md)
- *Blade Runner 2049* (2017), Fi1m 83, as Doc Badger — [page](https://film.one/film/blade-runner-2049.md)
- *Good Time* (2017), Fi1m 82, as Dash the Park Security Guard — [page](https://film.one/film/good-time.md)
- *Eye in the Sky* (2015), Fi1m 72, as Jama Farah — [page](https://film.one/film/eye-in-the-sky.md)
- *Captain Phillips* (2013), Fi1m 83, as Muse — [page](https://film.one/film/captain-phillips.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Run* (2025), as Ismael
- *Magan's Fare* (2025), as Magan
- *Carol & the End of the World* (2023), series, as (voice)
- *The Curse* (2023), series, as Abshir — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-curse.md)
- *Blight* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Agent Game* (2022), as Omar
- *Tyson's Run* (2022), as Aklilu
- *Blade Runner: Black Lotus* (2021), series, as Doc Badger (voice)
- *Beneath a Sea of Lights* (2020), as Caweys
- *Little America* (2020), series, Actor — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/little-america.md)
- *A Girl from Mogadishu* (2019), as Hassan
- *Castle Rock* (2018), series, as Abdi Howlwadaag
- *The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir* (2018), as Wiraj
- *The Pirates of Somalia* (2017), as Abdi
- *Blade Runner 2049* (2017), as Doc Badger — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/blade-runner-2049.md)
- *Good Time* (2017), as Dash the Park Security Guard — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/good-time.md)
- *America; I Too* (2017), as Ahmed
- *Extortion* (2017), as Miguel Kaba
- *Grimsby* (2016), as Tabansi Nyagura
- *Eye in the Sky* (2015), as Jama Farah — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/eye-in-the-sky.md)
- *Wolf Who Cried Boy* (2015), as Reggie
- *Captain Phillips* (2013), as Muse — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/captain-phillips.md)
- *Hawaii Five-0* (2010), series, as Roko Makoni — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md)
- *Family Guy* (1999), series, as Abduwali Muse (voice) — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/family-guy.md)
- *Alfalfa*, Actor
- *Synthetic*, Actor
- *Maalstroom*, as Bahdoon

## Gallery

- ![Barkhad Abdi](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-b40d5e4fd9dc.jpg) Barkhad Abdi — Christopher William Adach from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Barkhad_Abdi_at_LFCC_Awards.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Production Still Copyright Seamus Murphy for Pembridge Film Productions Limited All Rights Reserved (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-c8f27b62a3c7.jpg) Production Still Copyright Seamus Murphy for Pembridge Film Productions Limited All Rights Reserved (2017) — Seamus Murphy - Official Stills Photographer for Pembridge Film Productions Limited, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Aja_Naomi_King_as_Ifrah_Ahmed_in_A_Girl_from_Mogadishu.jpg/1280px-Aja_Naomi_King_as_Ifrah_Ahmed_in_A_Girl_from_Mogadishu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![P1030139 (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-82cc44ffee50.jpg) P1030139 (2013) — aphrodite-in-nyc from new york city, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Barkhad_Abdi_NYFF.jpg/1280px-Barkhad_Abdi_NYFF.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Very skinny actor Barkhad Abdi at TIFF 2015 for the movie Eye in the Sky.](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-1cc6e475fe6d.jpg) Very skinny actor Barkhad Abdi at TIFF 2015 for the movie Eye in the Sky. — Peter Kudlacz

 This photo was taken with Samsung Galaxy S4, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Barkhad_Abdi_Skinny_Actor_at_TIFF_%2821390660195%29.jpg/1280px-Barkhad_Abdi_Skinny_Actor_at_TIFF_%2821390660195%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Barkhad Abdi](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-7baf038d7843.jpg) Barkhad Abdi — Image via TMDB
- ![Barkhad Abdi at the premiere of Eye in the Sky, 2015 Toronto Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/121035/gallery-87f094f4fbbd.jpg) Barkhad Abdi at the premiere of Eye in the Sky, 2015 Toronto Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Eye_in_the_Sky_06_%2820748464724%29.jpg/1280px-Eye_in_the_Sky_06_%2820748464724%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2014: Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *Captain Phillips*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won

- 2014: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (won), for *Captain Phillips*

### Golden Globes — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2013: Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (nominated), for *Captain Phillips*

### SAG Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2014: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (nominated), for *Captain Phillips*

### Other awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor 2013: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *Captain Phillips*
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor 2013: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *Captain Phillips*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/barkhad-abdi