Ali Alsaleh: The real-life origin story of Nashville's new Marvel star

Decades ago and a world away, Ali Alsaleh once learned about America in one of the most American ways possible — watching "Friends." 

But he could not have been further from Ross and Rachel's back-and-forth tension in a Manhattan apartment. He saw the time-tested story unfold in Baghdad, Iraq, Alsaleh's home before his family sought political refuge in Nashville, some 6,700 miles away.

"That was what everyone thought America was," the 30-year-old Alsaleh said. "It was 'Friends.' It was the show. That's what we looked up to."

Now arguably for the first time since moving to the U.S. more than two decades ago, he's building his own screen-worthy community through acting, writing and producing stories ready to play in cinemas and on streaming services.

And this summer, he debuted his biggest role yet. Alsaleh stars as Aadam in "Ms. Marvel," the latest Disney+ addition to an ever-growing (and ever-popular) Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans can catch the "Ms. Marvel" season finale beginning Wednesday; all previous episodes can be streamed now on Disney+.

While Alsaleh's origin story isn't out of a comic book, his path to the silver screen may one day be worthy of its own blockbuster production.

"Where he came from ... to where he is now," said William Arnold, acting coach at Nashville's 4th Wall Studio, "I can't help but just sit back and smile. It's pretty spectacular."

The one where he moves around the world

Alsaleh's world-crossing journey to Nashville began around age eight, after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein targeted Arab journalists unwilling to become martyrs for the regime — including his father, Ahmad.

His family fled by night to neighboring Jordan before entering Tennessee in 2000. Knowing only a little English, a culture shock awaited at the end of the tarmac.

They moved into a low-income apartment off Nolensville Pike; At first, Alsaleh's parents got by with shifts at McDonald's and Target. He remembers how wildly different it felt to taste a fast-food cheeseburger or see American fashion after leaving a country where kids weren't allowed to wear shorts.

"We were just trying to survive," Alsaleh said. "Housing and school and everything, we tried as much as we could to make it safe and have some sort of childhood."

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And for his first year in America, Alsaleh said he felt safe. Then 9/11 happened.

The terrorist attack created a seismic shift on already shaky ground for an Iraqi kid in the South. A wave of bullying often greeted Alsaleh and his sister in school, but he said now he doesn't blame former classmates for showing a "mask of fear" often passed down from parents to children.

He saw how some Arab students turned bullying into anger, but Alsaleh instead focused on assimilating in his new country.

"Personality wise, (I) took it in a comedic route," Alsaleh said. "I wasn't going to turn it into violence, if it was bullyingor jokes or anything like that. I was like, 'Alright, I'll just fit in. This is how it works.'"

The one where he lands a Marvel role

(NOTE: Minor spoilers ahead for Alsaleh' role in "Ms. Marvel.")

(Seriously. We let a few things slip. Don't blame us if you keep reading.) 

As for acting in high school? Forget about it. Alsaleh was too busy playing soccer and keeping up with homework to dedicate his afternoons to drama club.

He graduated from Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet and decamped for Knoxville to learn architecture at the University of Tennessee (he continues off-screen to work at local firm Smith Gee Studios).

In college, Alsaleh explored screenwriting in his spare time. His hobby turned more serious as he further studied the puzzle pieces behind screenwriting and filmmaking. While writing remains his first love, he enrolled in acting lessons at Nashville's 4th Wall Acting Studio in 2018.

Opening in 2015 with a dozen students, roughly 200 now participate in 4th Wall classes, Arnold said.

"For his family to flee a country and to all of a sudden go down one path as an architect and the next thing you know, these little dominos start falling into place," Arnold said. "Now you can say he's [in a Marvel production].

"It could not happen to a harder worker and kinder soul."

Lessons snowballed quickly into landing a deal with Nashville's McCray Agency, and in 2019 Alsaleh scored his role in "Ms. Marvel." He plays Aadam, a goofball bruiser in the ClanDestines, a group of ancient interdimensional beings — based broadly on Arabic spirits called djinn  — vying to return home at any cost.

Known for big-budget releases and fandoms that break office records, the Marvel production came with a strict choreography regimen and cross-continental shoots in Thailand, Alsaleh said. In all, he spent about six months working on the show.

"I think it was demystifying, the attainability of Hollywood," Alsaleh said. "You're sitting in Nashville and you're like, 'We can't make it to Hollywood.' To be in one of the biggest productions — there's 200 people on set — it's awesome."

On screen, "Ms. Marvel" immerses viewers in a superhuman take on Pakistani-American culture — a needed addition in a universe where white men can often dominate screen time and storylines. "Ms. Marvel" marks the first Marvel Cinematic Universe production led by a Muslim superhero.

"It's a big accomplishment to introduce a completely new community," Alsaleh said. "It's specific to the Pakistani community but there's so much overlap in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. I've seen all these comments, people being able to relate to [their family]. We haven't seen this before. I definitely haven't."

He added, "My parents are watching it. They're super into it. They can see themselves in it, which is new."

The one where he writes his own narrative

The curtain doesn't drop on Alsaleh's creative output when "Ms. Marvel" ends, of course.

In Nashville, he's working with collaborators Randa Newman and Dajanae Cole to create and co-star in "Typecast" a so-called dramady series set in Music City. The show follows a trio of roommates "navigating the real world and film world as modern minorities," per IMDb.

After fielding repeated calls for refugee immigrant roles (AKA "typecasting" in Hollywood), the group decided to launch Typecast Pictures — a space to write and produce stories with roles they want to see themselves in.

"[We want] to produce other stories here that have to do with minorities or underprivileged or female-led, anything like that," Alsaleh said. He added:  "[It was] the mindset of, 'OK, I'm an actor now,' but I don't wait to sit and wait for the phone to ring for whatever role comes out," Alsaleh said. "I'd rather write it myself and produce myself and show people what I can do."

He isn't the only Alsaleh making a major screen debut, either.

After a casting crew saw his dad in an audition tape, indie darling A24 tapped both of Alsaleh's parents — Ahmad, who eventually returned to journalism and teaches Arabic at Fort Campbell, and Susan— for an upcoming project.

"They're freaking out," he said. "That was cool to share with them. Especially for my dad, who acted back [in Iraq], to be able to do it here in America."

And, yes. Despite his many growing roles in film, he still finds time for an occasional episode of "Friends."

"I still watch it," he said with a smile. "It's, like, my favorite show."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The origin story of Nashville's new Marvel star Ali Alsaleh