F. MURRAY ABRAHAM
Name: Fahrid Murray Abraham
Born: 24 October 1939 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Other name: Frank Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939) is an Academy Award-winning
American actor. He became known during the 1980s, after winning the Oscar for
Best Actor for his role in Amadeus, and has since appeared in many roles, both
leading and supporting, in films, television, and mainly on stage.
Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Josephine, a housewife,
and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic. His father was an Assyrian Christian
who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was
a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Abraham's mother, one of fourteen
children, was an Italian American, the daughter of an immigrant who worked in
the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania. Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas,
near the Mexican border, where he was a gang member during his teenage years.
He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta
Hagen 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 can be seen as one of the undercover cops along with Al Pacino in the
film 'Serpico'. Prior to his acclaimed role in Amadeus, Abraham was perhaps best
known to audiences as a talking leaf in a series of television commercials for
Fruit of the Loom underwear. He worked with Pacino again in the gangster film
"Scarface" in 1983, playing drug dealer Omar Suarez. Abraham won the Academy
Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984). After
Amadeus he has mainly focused on classical theatre, and has starred in many
Shakespearean productions such as Othello and Richard III, as well as many other
plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Abraham has focused on stage work throughout his career, giving notable
performances as Pozzo in Mike Nichols' production of Waiting for Godot, Malvolio
in Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Shylock in The
Merchant of Venice for a New York based theatre company called Theatre For A New
Audience (TFANA) which has been performed in March 2007 at The Swan Theatre,
part of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Name: Fahrid Murray Abraham
Born: 24 October 1939 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Other name: Frank Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939) is an Academy Award-winning
American actor. He became known during the 1980s, after winning the Oscar for
Best Actor for his role in Amadeus, and has since appeared in many roles, both
leading and supporting, in films, television, and mainly on stage.
Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Josephine, a housewife,
and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic. His father was an Assyrian Christian
who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was
a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Abraham's mother, one of fourteen
children, was an Italian American, the daughter of an immigrant who worked in
the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania. Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas,
near the Mexican border, where he was a gang member during his teenage years.
He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta
Hagen 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 can be seen as one of the undercover cops along with Al Pacino in the
film 'Serpico'. Prior to his acclaimed role in Amadeus, Abraham was perhaps best
known to audiences as a talking leaf in a series of television commercials for
Fruit of the Loom underwear. He worked with Pacino again in the gangster film
"Scarface" in 1983, playing drug dealer Omar Suarez. Abraham won the Academy
Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984). After
Amadeus he has mainly focused on classical theatre, and has starred in many
Shakespearean productions such as Othello and Richard III, as well as many other
plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Abraham has focused on stage work throughout his career, giving notable
performances as Pozzo in Mike Nichols' production of Waiting for Godot, Malvolio
in Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Shylock in The
Merchant of Venice for a New York based theatre company called Theatre For A New
Audience (TFANA) which has been performed in March 2007 at The Swan Theatre,
part of the Royal Shakespeare Company.