Do we like Rami Malek?
Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, plus a refugee-aid ambassadorship and a record of backing queer stories; one clumsy interview answer keeps it off a 9.
Rami Malek grew up in Southern California as the child of Egyptian parents who moved from Cairo in 1978. He has talked about never quite fitting in, and about how he and his twin brother learned to read people closely. It's a very 'outsider who made it' backstory, and it shows in the roles he picks.
He told The Guardian in 2025 that LAPD officers once pinned him to a police car during a liquor-store robbery search. A white friend's remark that he was Egyptian, not Latin, got him out of it, and he said he didn't know how you ever get over that. It's a story about being on the receiving end of profiling, not dishing it out.
His biggest stoush was the Bohemian Rhapsody fallout. Critics said the film played down Freddie Mercury's gay relationships, and Malek first dodged calling him a gay icon. He later said he'd pushed for more of that part of Mercury's life, and in his 2019 Oscar speech he talked about making a film about a gay man and an immigrant. Fair criticism, a fumbled answer, and a pretty good recovery.
Then there's director Bryan Singer, who was fired from the film and has faced alleged sexual misconduct claims. Malek said working with Singer was "not pleasant, not at all" and that anyone who wants to talk about it deserves to be heard. That's not a heroic stand, but he didn't defend the bloke either.
On the harm check, nothing turned up. No anti-LGBTQ+ or anti-trans comments, no conspiracy rabbit holes, no culture-war grifting, and his recent work isn't with the usual suspects for that kind of slide. His 2025 to 2026 slate runs from the historical drama Nuremberg to the Cannes film The Man I Love. That's the whole list, and it's a clean one.
The recent bit is the interesting one. Malek says The Man I Love scared him at first because it echoed his Mercury role, and he nearly walked away. He took it after working out what separated the two men and trusting Sachs. Plenty of straight-ish Hollywood careers avoid that kind of repeat risk, so taking it on is a point in his favour.