Barkhad is up for the Best Supporting Actor award tonight…
Barkhad Abdi will face off against some of the biggest names in Hollywood tonight at the Academy Awards, but according to a new report by the New Yorker, the Somalia-born actor has faced financial problems since filming Captain Phillips two years ago. Barkhad, who is competing against Jonah Hill, Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto and Michael Fassbender tonight for the Best Supporting Actor award, said he had to go work at his brother’s Minneapolis mobile phone store after filming just to make ends meet.
He quit the job right before Captain Phillips premiered, but not because his filming salary allowed him to live a comfortable life: he was only paid $65,000.
Barkhad Abdi is in the running for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. (WENN)
“How I thought about it was, like, When the movie came out, reviews either gonna be good or bad,” he told the New Yorker. “Either way, I cannot be working here.”
Since then, he has been living the Hollywood lifestyle of fancy cars and clothes and traveling to exciting events. However, the 28 year-old is very far from being rich.
“When Abdi is in Los Angeles to promote the film, he subsists on a per diem, good at the Beverly Hilton, where the studio likes to put him up,” the article reads. “The town car is available only for official publicity events. His clothes are loaners. Recently Abdi requested that he be allowed to stay at a commuter hotel near LAX to be closer to his friend, a Somali cabdriver from Minneapolis, who shuttles him around for free.”
Barkhad, who played a Somali pirate that takes over the ship captained by Tom Hanks’ character in the film, had been working as a limo driver before getting the role. He came to America with his family as a child and eventually settled in Minneapolis. According to the story, he plans to move to Los Angeles with fellow Captain Phillips actor Faysal Ahmed after the Oscars.
While he did just win the BAFTA for best supporting actor, Barkhad has not had an acting role since Captain Phillips wrapped over two years ago. According to the article, he is now reading scripts and looking for his next role.
Source: entertainmentwise.com
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