Rami Malek's Real Name: Rami Said Malek

Quick answer: Rami Malek's full name is Rami Said Malek. He was born on May 12, 1981, in Torrance, California, to parents who came to the U.S. from Cairo. He won an Emmy as hacker Elliot Alderson in Mr. Robot and the best actor Oscar as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica's quick facts give his name "in full" as Rami Said Malek. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Malek, Rami" and lists "Malek, Rami Said" as a variant. Its citation reads "birth name, Rami Said Malek," though it gives his birthplace as Los Angeles, while Britannica says Torrance, which is in Los Angeles County. His middle name, Said, is also his father's first name.

Britannica says he is one of three children of Nelly Malek, an accountant, and Said Malek, an insurance salesman. His parents and older sister, Jasmine, emigrated from Cairo, Egypt. He has an identical twin brother, Sami. The family settled in Los Angeles. Malek became interested in acting in high school and graduated in drama from the University of Evansville in Indiana in 2003.

Career highlights

After odd jobs and a stint in New York, he got a 2004 guest role on Gilmore Girls. His film debut came in 2006 as Pharaoh Ahkmenrah in Night at the Museum, a role he repeated in two sequels. He appeared on 24, played a U.S. soldier in HBO's The Pacific (2010), and was the vampire Benjamin in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn–Part 2 (2012). Other credits include The Master and Spike Lee's Oldboy.

His breakthrough was Mr. Robot (2015–19). His portrayal of the alienated cybersecurity engineer Elliot Alderson won him the 2016 Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. To play Queen's Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, he trained his voice and studied hours of concert footage. The role won him a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for best actor. Britannica says that made him the first person of Arab descent to win that Oscar.

He played the Bond villain Lyutsifer Safin in No Time to Die (2021), had a supporting role in Amsterdam (2022), and played physicist David L. Hill in Oppenheimer (2023). In The Amateur (2025) he starred as a CIA cryptographer seeking revenge. Britannica also lists him as psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in Nuremberg. He speaks out for diversity in media and in 2021 became an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee.

Name notes for searchers

Said is his middle name, and Malek is his family surname. He does not use a stage name. Searches for "Sami Malek" lead to his identical twin brother, not a different name for Rami.