abdi

Captain Phillips star Barkhad Abdi was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the $55 million film, but was only paid $65,000 for his role.

Abdi, 28, who played Muse, the leader of a group of Somali pirates who battle Tom Hanks, is actually struggling to make ends meet. 

From E! Online:

“When Abdi is in Los Angeles to promote the film, he subsists on a per diem, good at the Beverly Hilton, where the studio likes to put him up,” the report states.

“The town car is available only for official publicity events. His clothes are loaners,” reads the article. “Recently Abdi requested that he be allowed to stay at a commuter hotel near LAX to be closer to his friend, a Somali cabdriver from Minneapolis, who shuttles him around for free.”

Read more at E! Online

At the conclusion of filming for Captain Phillips, Abdi went to work at his brother’s mobile phone store in Minneapolis, but quit when the film premiered. “How I thought about it was, like, When the movie came out, reviews either gonna be good or bad,” he told the New Yorker. “Either way, I cannot be working here.”

He also took home BAFTA’s Best Supporting Actor award and is currently reading scripts to find his next movie role.

Should the producers of the film pay more to Abdi?

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