Rami Malek just won his first Oscar for playing British rocker Freddie Mercury in the music biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but that win might not have been possible without his Emmy-winning performance in the USA drama series “Mr. Robot,” which made him a star. So which Rami reigns supreme: “Robot” or “Rhapsody.” Scroll down to vote in our poll at the bottom of this post.
Malek’s career already spanned years — including roles in the “Night at the Museum” movies, “24,” “The Pacific,” “The Master” and “Short Term 12” — before he started playing mentally unstable hacker Elliot Alderson in “Mr. Robot.” The USA drama premiered in 2015 and subsequently won him Critics’ Choice and Emmy Awards for Best Drama Actor. He was also nominated twice at the Golden Globes and twice at the SAG Awards.
The Emmys haven’t nominated him since that first victory, but he got his revenge at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards for “Rhapsody,” in which he showed off his dramatic versatility, going from his twitchy, paranoid tech wiz on the small screen to the outsize personality of a music legend on the big screen. When he won the Oscar for it he became the first actor in almost two decades to win an Emmy and an Oscar on his first try for leading roles — that’s how quickly his public profile has risen.
The Emmys moved on from “Mr. Robot” surprisingly quickly. It went from six nominations including Best Drama Series in 2016, to three Creative Arts noms in 2017, to just two in 2018. But the conspiracy thriller may yet get a boost following Malek’s Oscar win. The series is returning for a fourth and final season, the production of which was delayed while creator Sam Esmail worked on his Amazon series “Homecoming.” Now that Malek has an Oscar in hand, maybe the television academy will see him as a “Champion” again when the show returns.
