Usman Ally

Usman Ally
Born	(1982-08-27) August 27, 1982 (age 42) Swaziland
Alma mater	Lewis & Clark College (BA) University of Florida (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Malena Mai

Usman Ally (born August 27, 1982) is a Pakistani-American film, stage and television actor. Marking his acting debut in 2008, Ally won an Obie Award in 2015 for his role in The Invisible Hand. ^[1]

He has appeared in several stage productions including The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity , The Jungle Book and a production of Around the World in 80 Days . He is known for his on-screen roles such as Fernald the Hook-Handed Man in Netflix's adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events , which premiered in 2017 and Andy Malik in Suits . ^[2]

Background

Ally was born in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) to Pakistani parents. ^{[3] [4] [5]} He grew up in Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, and Pakistan. ^{[6] [7] [8]} According to Ally, his family regularly moved because his father was involved in international trade. ^{[9] [4]}

At age 18, Ally moved to the United States and attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, majoring in theater and cultural anthropology. ^[10] While there, he was introduced to a group called Prisoners of Politics, and participated in slam poetry and hip hop performances. Soon after graduating from Lewis and Clark, he attended the University of Florida, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Fine Arts in acting. He has lived in Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles. ^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Group	Sunil	Short film
2009	Chicago Overcoat	Pawnshop Owner
2011	Our Fathers	Ahmed	Short film
2012	Just Like a Woman	Ousman
2013	Star Trek Into Darkness	U.S.S. Vengeance Officer
2015	Misled	Waseem
2016	Love Meet Hope	Andrew
2020	The Hunt	Crisis Mike
2020	Superintelligence	Sergei
2022	Grimcutty	Amir Chaudhry	[11]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	The Chicago Code	Abrahm	Episode: "St. Valentine's Day Massacre"
	Damages	Nasim Marwat	4 episodes
2012	Boss	Joe Young	2 episodes
2013	Blue Bloods	Vendor	Episode: "No Regrets"
2014	Mind Games	Charles	Episode: "Pilot"
	Person of Interest	Jamal Risha	Episode: "Allegiance"
2014–2015	Madam Secretary	Zahed Javani	3 episodes
2015	Castle	Bilal Jafari	Episode: "Sleeper"
	The Player	Hamid	Episode: "Pilot"
	Brooklyn Animal Control	Lawyer	Episode 1.1
2016	Blindspot	Hakim	Episode: "Cease Forcing Enemy"
	Helen & Grace	Coach	2 episodes
	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Vincent	3 episodes
	The Librarians	Security Lt. Becker	Episode: "And the Fangs of Death"
2016–2017	Veep	Ambassador Al Jaffar	6 episodes
2017–2019	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Fernald the Hook-Handed Man	Recurring role
2017	Just Add Magic	Mr. Morris	8 episodes
2017–2018	Nobodies	Gavin	Recurring role
	Mike Tyson Mysteries	Raji, Mahmoud, Price Abdul Al Farooq	Voice, 2 episodes [12]
2017–2019	Suits	Andrew Malik	4 episodes
2017	Lifeline	Nathan	Main role
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Morsi Driver	Episode: "Never Wait for Seconds!"
2019	Better Things	Dr. Babu	Episode: "No Limits"
	On Becoming a God in Central Florida	Stan Van Grundegaard	Recurring role
2019-2020	NCIS	Victor Mir	2 episodes
2020	68 Whiskey	Captain Hazara	Recurring role
2021	Call Me Kat	Dr. Kevin Khan	Episode: "Therapy"
2021	Young Justice	Khalid Nassour, Muhammad Nassour	Voice, recurring role (5 episodes) [12]
2022	God's Favorite Idiot	Mohsin Raza	16 episodes [13]

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Uncharted 4: A Thief's End	Asav	Multiplayer only
2017	Uncharted: The Lost Legacy		Also motion capture [12]
2017	Middle-earth: Shadow of War	Serka	"Desolation of Mordor" DLC
2019	The Elder Scrolls Online	Zamarak
2019	Magic: The Gathering Arena	Oko, Thief of Crowns	[14]
2020	Fast & Furious Crossroads	Kai
2020	Avengers	George Tarleton / M.O.D.O.K.	[12]
2022	God of War Ragnarök	Durlin	[12]

References

1. "2015 Obie Awards". Obie Awards. 2015. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
2. Sean Fitz-Gerald (January 13, 2017). "Every 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' Actor You Need to Know About". Thrillist. Archived from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
3. "Angry Reader of the Week: Usman Ally". Angry Asian Man. 1 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
4. Metz, Nina (14 June 2017). "Like so many others, Usman Ally goes from Chicago to 'Veep'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
5. "Usman Ally On His 'Veep' Role As a Turning Point for Muslims on TV". Awards Daily. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
6. "Usman Ally: The Pakistani American Actor Who Seems to Be Everywhere". India West. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
7. "Five Questions with Usman Ally, Star of 'Nobodies', 'Veep' and 'Series Of Unfortunate Events'". Huffington Post. 24 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
8. Soloski, Alexis (27 December 2014). "Usman Ally Discusses his Roles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
9. "Usman Ally on identity politics in ATC's 'Disgraced'". WBEZ. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
10. Waterhouse, Ben (28 September 2015). "Character Builder". Lewis & Clark. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
11. Ganguly, Shrija (October 10, 2022). "Grimcutty review: The John Ross horror film on Hulu works despite a freakish monster and some loose strings". Sportskeeda. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
12. "Usman Ally (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 9, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
13. Wiseman, Andreas; Petski, Denise (February 12, 2021). "Melissa McCarthy Netflix Comedy God's Favorite Idiot Adds Yanic Truesdale, Steve Mallory, Usman Ally, More". Deadline. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
14. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10967214/characters/nm2762669

External links

• Usman Ally at IMDb