Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek recently shared a harrowing story from his past, revealing an encounter with the Los Angeles Police Department that left him racially profiled and physically thrown onto the hood of a police car.
The incident, which took place during a robbery investigation, highlights the actor’s experience with identity and racial stereotyping.
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Malek recounted how the police mistook him for a suspect in a liquor store robbery.
According to the actor, the thief had a Latin descent, and Malek, who is Egyptian, fit the vague description. “I got thrown on the bonnet of an LAPD cop car because someone had robbed a liquor store and stolen a woman’s bag. They said the thief was of Latin descent and, ‘You fit the description,'” he recalled.
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The heat from the car’s engine, which had been racing to the scene, left him with burnt hands as they pressed him against the vehicle.
Malek was accompanied by a friend at the time, who, realizing the mistake, tried to correct the officers.
“My friend, who was Caucasian, was clever enough to say, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian. Not Latin,'” Malek said. Despite the correction, Malek couldn’t help but feel uneasy, laughing nervously as he realized the gravity of the situation. “I may well be going to jail for something I’ve not done,” he reflected.
The actor, best known for his role as Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, has long spoken about issues of identity and the challenges he faced growing up in the 1990s.
In addition to his acting career, Rami Malek is ready to take the stage at London’s Old Vic Theatre as Oedipus and will appear in the upcoming thriller ‘The Amateur’. The film, slated for release in April 2025, features Malek as a CIA decoder who goes rogue to avenge his wife’s murder. The film also stars Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, and Jon Bernthal.