Hi, it's Anna.

Actor Mahershila Ali just got an Academy Award nomination for his role in the movie Moonlight.

Ten months ago, he was on stage with us in Brooklyn as part of a live show.

I talked with Mahershla along with his wife, Amatous.

Their conversation was part of a big episode that we released after that show,

but we wanted to re-release their conversation in case you missed it.

Because we caught Mahershachla and Amatous at a moment just before their lives would radically change,

before all the Oscar buzz for Mahershala and before

they were expecting their first child. They announced the pregnancy in December. When we were

together, Mahershala and Amatous told me about how they met at NYU, about their shared Muslim

faith, and about the compromises they're willing to make for work and those they aren't.

Here's our conversation from last March on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Mahershala, I want you to take me back to when you were an acting student at NYU and you

notice this woman, Amatous.

What do you remember about her at that point?

That's good because...

Oh, no.

Yeah.

See, I wasn't particularly good at talking to women.

And so I was in grad school.

I was a little bit of a late bloomer with a lot of things. But so I was in grad school. I was a little bit of a late bloomer with a lot of things. But so I was in grad school. She was in the undergrad program. I had a friend who also went to NYU, went to undergrad. So he was in ETA, the same studio she was in. You were in ETA, right? ETW. ETW, sorry. ETW, what's that stand for?

Experimental Theater Wing.

...