Ali is a Somali-American actor from Minneapolis. While not much is specifically known about his background, in 2013 he was cast in Paul Greengrass' biographical survival thriller film Captain Phillips, based on the Maersk Alabama hijacking that had occurred in 2009, off the coast of the Horn of Africa. Ali is a close friend of the actors who he would co-star with in the film; Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, and Barkhad Abdirahman.