Topic: F. Murray Abraham

Fahrid Murray Abraham (in Arabic فريد مراد ابراهيم الاحمد Farīd Murād Ibrāhīm Al-Aḥmad) (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.

Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of 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 cantor in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Abraham's mother, one of fourteen children, was an arabic 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 Texas Western College (later named The University of Texas at El Paso), where he was given the best actor award by Alpha Psi Omega for his portrayal of the Indian nocona in 'Comanche Eagle' during the 1959-60 season. 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 Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.

Abraham can be seen as one of the undercover cops along with Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Serpico (1973). He also appears very early in All the President's Men as one of the police officers who arrests the Watergate burglars in the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters.