Captain Phillips Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi is broke
By Tribute on March 6, 2014 | 12 Comments
Ellen DeGeneres poked fun at Barkhad Abdi‘s Somalian background at The Oscars, but the BAFTA winner isn’t exactly laughing his way to the bank. While Barkhad may have helped Captain Phillips make over $200 million at the worldwide box office, he can’t say he’s profiting from it. Reports are saying the Oscar nominee is flat out broke. According to a recent story in The New Yorker, Barkhad was paid only $65,000 (two years ago) for his lead role as Muse, the pirate leader who takes over the ship from Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks). Sony Pictures has helped by getting Barkhad a room at the Beverly Hilton when he’s in Los Angeles and has given him the use of a studio car for publicity purposes, but he’s had to borrow the suits he’s been wearing to awards shows and other public events. Although he’s had a hard time finding another role in the past two years, things are looking up: Barkhad recently signed up to star in a new historical drama The Place That Hits the Sun, about South African runner Willie Mtolo. Click here to check out our exclusive interview with Barkhad about his sudden fame. ~Tarah Bleier
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Maybe he should have headed back to Omalia after he was paid – $65000. is a lot of money there.
What did he spend it on? Drugs? Jewelry? Hos?
The guy is butt ugly- how did he get the part in the first place- lotsa hard-working but unemployed, good looking black AMERICANS who would have been happy to make that money.
He was really good in Captain Phillips. I’d be interested in seeing him in something else. Sometimes these one note wonders just slip out of the public eye because they were good in one role, but aren’t really actors.
LeongCox, you are a racist bigot who should not be allowed to comment here or anywhere else. How dare you spew such horrific blatant nonsense. Barkhad Abdi was terrific in this role and deserved this nomination. It is a complete shame that he was paid only $65,000 for helping these people make over $200M. What a disgrace.
LeongCox: R u kidding me?! You said he is ugly. How about other Hollywood actors that are not so handsome, yet they are still in the movies. Ugly or not, don’t judge by their appearances. That’s what actors are for!!
It’s pathetic that they used this poor guy and only gave him 65000 hollywood greedy bastards like tom should have said you know this guy played a big role in this film give him a million he earned it . In my opinion all hollywood actors should make 65000 we have given them too much power.
There are a lot of people that help make movies, and they don’t earn $65,000 for doing so. There are sound techs and costume people and makeup artists, set designers, stunt people, screen writers, not all of which are making that kind of money. No one forced this guy to take the part and he was paid what he signed the contract for. Not everyone involved in the movie can earn a million dollars – especially not on your first movie!
He was great in the movie and right for the character. He didn’t make a lot of money but got noticed by the world and more importantly the movie world, which can translate into more jobs and more money in the future. Robyn all the people you speak of work in the industry because actors are on the screen and they work more often then actors, so actors should be paid more. Leong Cox your just mean and wrong.
Given me a break. Dude got the break of a lifetime – so what if he was paid $65,000. Ask Jonah Hill what he agreed to get paid for Wolf of Wall Street ($60,000) and he is already proven! If this guy is really that good and he keeps trying, it will work out. If not, then he can chalk this up to a good life experience. Frankly, I don’t think he was THAT good in it but that’s just me. Helps to be working with one of the best in Hollywood…
$65, 000 just for acting in a movie. I don’t feel sorry for him that he’s broke. It’s his fault he is broke. He agreed to the contract which includes the amount of money he was paid. He should be accountable for his own actions. I do agree that the studio should give him more money. So they are both at fault here. But that’s the problem with capitalism. The people at the top make so much money off of the people at the bottom and the people at the bottom are doing all the work.
LeongCox more like MORONcox..so blatantly obvious about your stupid name and learn to spell you ignorant joke of a human. SOMALIA not OMALIA
Hard to believe he spent the money already, that’s a lot of cash in Somalia. OUt of that money he couldn’t pay to buy or rent a suit? How gullible are we? He wasn’t a bad actor for the first time ever. I wonder if he had to learn English to do it or if he already had a knowledge of it. There’s a lot going on in Somalia so I’m sure he’ll get other roles as they make other movies about the strife over there.
He should have had someone teach him how to save it and still give him money to live on and make it grow, money does not grow on trees. $65.000 is still a lot of money