Despite the Oscar nomination for his work in the film Captain Phillips, Barkhad Abdi is living a life far from that of a glamorous Academy Award attendee.
The 28-year-old–who moved to Minneapolis with his family at the age of six–caught his big break playing a Somali pirate in the Tom Hanks feature film, but only earned $65,000 for the part. And he is only put up at a posh hotel and given a car service when he’s in LA to promote the film–outside of that he’s left to his own devices.
After filming Captain Phillips Barkhad started working at his brother’s mobile phone store in Minneapolis, but decided to 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.”
After the Oscars, Barkhad says he plans to move to LA and live with fellow Captain Phillips actor Faysal Ahmed.
