Actor Mahershala Ali wonders whether he’s doing enough for his only daughter while he’s away at work on a film.
In his newest movie, titled “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” Ali plays a devoutly religious hitman raising his children alone after the death of his wife.
In one scene, the hitman’s infant daughter rejects the baby formula he bought. So he goes out in search of real breast milk.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Ali wondered whether he’s doing enough for his real-life daughter, Bari Ali (with wife Amatus Sami-Karim).
The 2-time Oscar winner said he does the best he can to be a present father for Bari.
“I think my experiences as a father made me very grateful to get to do this film. It’s a really wonderful responsibility to be tasked with articulating something you’re familiar with. But not knowing all of it-like, I don’t know everything about being a dad. I do the best that I can. I hope my daughter will grow up, God willing, and be like, ‘I had an amazing dad.’ But I don’t know if I’m always doing things right. You do the best you can.”
Ali said Bari is attending school on the East Coast where he’s working.
However, filming Jurassic World Rebirth in Thailand kept him away from his wife and daughter for five long months.
“That didn’t feel good,” he said. “It felt hard because we were on the other side of the world just missing each other.”
The time differences made it even harder to communicate with each other. When Bari was waking up, Ali was just going to bed on another continent.
But he believes Bari knows he’s doing the best he can as a father.
“I know she sees me trying and she gives me credit for that,” he said.
Ali became emotional when he recalled one occasion when Bari wanted to spend time with him – but he couldn’t because he was away working.
“I remember saying, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I have to go to work.’ And she’s crying and she goes, ‘Oh, it’s not your fault.'”
“That’s the best I can say without getting too choked up,” he told GQ’s writer before asking for a tissue.