We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this very important message: Mahershala Ali and his baby are so, so cute.
We know this because the actor — who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Moonlight last month — just posted an Instagram capturing a sweet daddy-daughter moment with little Bari Najma. Bari (pronounced Bar-ee) was born on February 22, just four days before Ali's big Oscars win, and is the first child for the 43-year-old star and wife Amathus-Sami Karim, who were married in 2013. (Oh, and happy one-month birthday, kiddo.)
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Ali captioned the adorable photo "Bari x Abu." Abu is the Arabic word for "father" and is a reference to Ali's Muslim faith.
The former House of Cards and Luke Cage castmember spoke about being a new dad during his acceptance speech at the Oscars.
"I just want to thank my wife, who was in her third trimester during awards season, who just had our daughter four days ago," he said. "I just want to thank her for being such a soldier through this process, and really carrying me through it all. So thank you, I really appreciate it."
More recently, he gushed about his little girl's milestones, telling People that fatherhood was "a different kind of crazy."
“She was smiling last night,” he told the magazine at The Most Powerful Stylists in Hollywood Dinner earlier this month. “It’s just been great to know this little person whose body seems to change every day and whose awareness heightens every day. It’s just been exciting.
“I think it changes your relationship with time,” he added, in reference to parenting. “I just don’t have time to waste. You gotta be really deliberate with how you choose to spend your day because those are the moments you’re away from your child. If anything, I want to work in a more focused way and discover the right balance for my life."
Uh-oh. Does this mean no more Calvin Klein Underwear campaigns?