F. Murray Abraham

F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor.

Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award, four Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.

Abraham was born Murray Abraham on October 24, 1939, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Fahrid "Fred" Abraham, an automotive mechanic and his wife Josephine (née Stello) (April 15, 1915 – March 10, 2012), Murray has described himself as an Italian American and Syrian American.

His father emigrated with his family from Muqlus, Ottoman Syria, a small village in the Valley of the Christians, at age five due to the famine of Mount Lebanon; his paternal grandfather was a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.

His mother, one of 14 children, was Italian American and the daughter of an Italian immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.

He had two younger brothers, Robert and Jack, who were killed in separate car accidents.

Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas.

Murray and his two younger brothers were altar boys in the St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in El Paso.

He attended Vilas Grammar School, and graduated from El Paso High School in 1958.

He was a gang member during his teenage years.

In El Paso, Abraham worked in the Farah Clothing factory owned by a Lebanese family before launching a career in acting.

He attended Texas Western College (later named University of Texas at El Paso), where he was given the best actor award by Alpha Psi Omega for his portrayal of the Indian Nocona in Comanche Eagle during the 1959–60 season.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta Hagen at HB Studio in New York City.

He began his acting career on the stage, debuting in a Los Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.

Abraham added "F."

to his stage name in honor of his father Fahrid.

He has stated that "Murray Abraham just doesn't seem to say anything. It just is another name, so I thought I'd frame it".

Abraham made his Broadway debut in the 1968 play The Man in the Glass Booth.

By the mid-1970s, he also had steady employment doing commercials and voice-overs.

Most notably, he played "the leaf", one of four costumed characters, in television and print commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear.

Abraham made his screen debut as an usher in the George C. Scott comedy They Might Be Giants (1971).

He can be seen as one of the undercover police officers along with Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Serpico (1973) and in television roles including the bad guy in one fourth-season episode of Kojak ("The Godson").

His early film roles include small parts as a cabdriver in the theatrical version of Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), a mechanic in the theatrical version of Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1975).

He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men (1976), Scarface (1983), The Name of the Rose (1986), Last Action Hero (1993), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Dillinger and Capone (1995), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Finding Forrester (2000), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).

He also played a police officer in the Alan J. Pakula Watergate film All the President's Men (1976), and acted in the comedy films The Ritz (1976) opposite Rita Moreno and The Big Fix (1978) alongside Richard Dreyfuss.

In 1978, he gave up this work.

Frustrated with the lack of substantial roles, he said: "No one was taking my acting seriously. I figured if I didn't do it, then I'd have no right to the dreams I've always had."

His wife, Kate Hannan, went to work as an assistant and Abraham became a "house husband".

As he described it: "I cooked and cleaned and took care of the kids. It was very rough on my macho idea of life. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Abraham gained greater prominence when he appeared as drug dealer Omar Suárez in the gangster film Scarface (1983).

He came to prominence for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in the drama film Amadeus (1984) for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

He received the Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for his roles in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1984) and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2011).

Then, in 1984, he played envious composer Antonio Salieri in the Academy Award for Best Picture-winning Amadeus (1984), directed by Miloš Forman.

Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role, an award for which his co-star in the film Tom Hulce, playing Mozart, had also been nominated.

He also won a Golden Globe Award, among other awards and his role in the film remains his most famous.

Abraham's relatively low-profile film career subsequent to his Academy Award win has been considered an example of the "Oscar jinx."

According to film critic Leonard Maltin, professional failure following an early success is referred to in Hollywood circles as the "F. Murray Abraham syndrome."

He was a regular cast member on the Showtime drama series Homeland (2012–2018), which earned him two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

He returned to Broadway in the revival of Terrence McNally's comedy It's Only a Play (2014), receiving a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play nomination.

He also starred in Mythic Quest (2020–2021), Moon Knight (2022) and The White Lotus (2022), with the latter earning him a nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Primetime Emmy Award.