Cannes 2026: How Rami Malek, star of The Man I Love, conquered the world

By Marion Ottaviani.

Published on 7 September 2020. Updated on 20 May 2026.

In a 2026 Cannes edition dominated by Asian and European cinema with no major studio blockbusters, The Man I Love stands out as the American exception. Ira Sachs’ new feature film is indeed the only US production competing for the Palme d’Or. Rami Malek is embodying Jimmy George, a Downtown New York artist navigating the final months of the 1980s, suspended between a love story and the devastation wrought by AIDS… Seven years after portraying superstar Freddie Mercury on screen, he returns to a musical role in an entirely different register. A project that will surely add to the charisma and talent of an actor who took Hollywood by storm in a heartbeat.

From his native Egypt to Hollywood

Born in Los Angeles exactly four minutes before his twin brother Sami, Rami Malek was brought up by an insurer father and an accountant mother, both Egyptian expats living in the United States. His upbringing was incredibly pious. The family was devoted to the Coptic Orthodix Church, a branch of the Egyptian Orthodox Church. He studied at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, alongside Rachel Bilson and even a certain Kirsten Dunst, who was one year older than him.

They attended the same acting and musical classes. The young man even shared that he had a crush on the Virgin Suicides heroine. Passionate about acting, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and started with small roles in experimental theaters and off-Broadway plays in New York. It was only in 2004, when he decided to head back west to try his luck in his hometown, that increasingly interesting roles began to come his way.

A weird kid and video games voice-over

Insecure about his typically oriental stature, the actor was convinced this detail would put the brakes on his career. “When I went to auditions, I’d say to myself that I had no chance. They’d rather choose someone with a more conventional physique, someone who society will accept more easily,” Rami Malek remembers. It’s hard to make yourself known in an industry where you’re competing with aspiring Brad Pitt look-a-likes with dream pectorals.

On television, however, the doors seemed slightly more open. The young actor made his debut as a weird kid in the incredibly popular series, Gilmore Girls. A sequence that he admits struggling with today, because of his hairdo. For the video game Halo 2, he lent his voice to one of the characters without even being mentioned in the credits. His perseverance ultimately led him to the film industry, where his unique allure finally became his best asset.

A revelation in The Pacific on HBO

King Ahkmenrah in the Night at the Museum saga, the Egyptian vampire Benjamin in the blockbuster saga Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)… Stereotypical characters for sure, but ones that helped him get a solid reputation in Hollywood. The revelation came with the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2012), in which he portrayed Snafu, a young soldier in the 1st Division of the Marines. This war drama became one of the most expensive in history with an average budget of 20 million dollars per episode.

For the first time, Rami Malek could show the full range of his abilities as an actor. He brought essential nuances to his role of a man destroyed by the battlefield, who snaffles gold teeth from the Japanese enemies he kills. The series received a relatively small success, but gave him the visibility and access he was missing to open new doors for his career.

A charismatic actor appealing to directors and luxury houses

From Peter Berg’s Battleship to the lukewarm remake of Spike Lee‘s movie Old Boy, the roles started coming in, but not always for particularly memorable features. One exception was The Master (2012), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Two years later, he landed a lead role in the series Mr. Robot as Elliot Anderson. He embodied a young, depressive and lonely computer technician living in New York, who gradually becomes an obsessive hacker. Rami Malek was seduced by the script as much as the creator of the series, Sam Esmail, was seduced by the brooding intensity of the young actor. Together they embarked on a new journey.

At the polar opposite of traditional American TV shows, the series airing on USA Network smashed all records. Acclaimed at the Gold Globes, the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and the Emmys, Mr. Robot allowed Rami Malek to become Hollywood’s new darling. Now a sought-after actor, he is starring in the most ambitious productions, from Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor in his role as Freddy Mercury, to the remake of Papillon (20217), alongside Charlie Hunnam. For the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, he walked the red carpet to present The Man I Love (2026), Ira Sachs’ anticipated new feature.

On top of that, Dior Homme chose him to be the face of the house’s Summer 2017 campaign. The actor struck the pose next to Boy George and A$AP Rocky. A well-deserved acknowledgment with the promise of even greater achievements to come…  

The Man I Love (2026) by Ira Sachs has no release date yet. The film will premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026.