F. Murray Abraham

Description

Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. He became known during the 1980s, after winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Amadeus, and has since appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films, television, and mainly on stage. <p>Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Josephine, a housewife, and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic. His father was an Assyrian Christian who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Abraham's mother, one of fourteen children, was an Italian American, the daughter of an immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania. Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border, where he was a gang member during his teenage years. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York City. He began his acting career on the stage, debuting in a Los...