Rami Malek, 40, may have played a number of roles but one of his favorites is brother. Rami first shot up into the spotlight when he dazzled in Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury and went on to win an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in it. He has also starred in The Little Things and Papillon and will be featured in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time To Die. And his twin, Sami Malek, has supported him all along the way. Here’s everything you need to know about Rami’s twin brother.
Rami & Sami are identical twins
Rami and his brother Sami are identical twins who were born just minutes apart. Rami is technically older as he was born four minutes before Sami. They were born on May 12, 1981, in LA but they come from a family of immigrants. Their father and mother, Said and Nelly, immigrated to the United in 1978, just three years before they were born. They grew up speaking Arabic in their home and have remained connected to their cousins and other family members living in Egypt. The two have remained close to this day with Rami even bringing to Sami to some of his red carpets.
Sami’s career
While Rami is an Oscar-winning actor, Sami leads a quite different lifestyle. Sami has pursued a career in education. He double-majored in American Literature & Culture and African-American Studies and started his teaching career through Teach For America. Rami has been supportive of his brother’s career and commended his brother’s, and every other teachers’, hard work on Twitter (via Heavy). “I know how hard teachers work and how dedicated they are to their students. I support my brother and all other teachers in their fight for the schools their students deserve. #istandwithlateachers,” he wrote.
Rami & Sami once pulled a classic twin switcheroo
Rami and Sami have attained the twin rite of passage by pulling off the classic switcheroo. Rami shared the hilarious story of how he performed a monologue as Sami for one of his college presentations on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “So he [Sami] calls me one day… he goes, ‘Hey, do you know a Greek monologue from a Greek tragedy?’ ‘Yeah, of course, I’ve just been doing this for four years. He goes, ‘Listen, I need you to come down to my university.’ He goes, ‘I need you to do this for my class. It’s gonna give me the points I need.’ I go, ‘Yeah I’m gonna get my points and we’re gonna make this happen.'”
When the time came, he pulled it off. However, the professor was a little suspicious about Sami’s sudden stage presence. “And I deliver this monologue in front of the entire lecture hall and I get a few [bits of] applause, people dig it. And I think she starts looking at me kind of accusatorially, like, ‘Where the hell did you come up with that?’ I told her, ‘Er, it’s just a hobby,'” he continued. They probably couldn’t pull that off nowadays though as Rami has admitted they don’t look quite as similar anymore. Plus, Rami is clean-shaven while Sami rocks a beard.