Ali Bourzgui: Awards, Activism, and Art | The Come Up

Ali and Matt have a candid conversation on Ali's TOMMY journey, what he learned from the COMPANY tour, his deep love of music, and the role of art in fostering social change. ABOUT THE COME UP The Come Up pulls back the curtain on the perpetual journey of “making it.” Artists and creatives share insights, stories, and truths about reality of being a human being in show business, with actor and generalist Matt Rodin. The Come Up is presented by Broadway Podcast Network. ABOUT ALI Ali Louis Bourzgui is an Arab (Moroccan American) actor, singer, musician and creator based in NYC. Fresh off his Broadway Debut as Tommy in Des McAnuff and Pete Townshend’s revival of The Who’s Tommy, he has received a Theatre World Award, Jeff Award (Performer in a Leading Role), an Outer Critics Circle and a Drama League nomination for the role. Recent work includes Amir in New York Theatre Workshop’s We Live in Cairo (Off-BWAY), Paul in the Company 1st National Tour, Haled on The Band’s Visit National Tour and Young Mazin/Yousif in The Goodman’s World Premiere play, Layalina. He recently wrapped filming on leading the short film The Ghost Light (Tiny Viking Productions). You can also hear his voice on the Monkeypaw/Gimlet horror podcast Quiet Part Loud produced by Jordan Peele. Originally from Pittsfield, MA, he holds nature, art and community dear. When not performing you can usually find him hiking, gardening, geeking out over jazz, playing guitar and writing music with his songwriting duo Resident Lightweight (debut album coming soon). He graduated from the Ithaca College B.F.A. Musical Theatre program and has worked regionally at venues such as The Goodman Theatre, Barrington Stage Co., Theaterworks Hartford, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, The Theater Barn, & Ghostlit Rep Theatre Co. He’s also a proud ISF scholar, working actively to increase Arab American/Muslim representation in media in order to improve public opinion and policy. As the most underrepresented community in the American Theatre it is our collective job to tell the nuanced beautiful stories of Arab culture to fight years of dehumanization and silencing. CONNECT WITH TKGUEST 🌍 Website: https://www.alilouisbourzgui.com/ 📸 Instagram:   / ali.louis   🎵 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4maFSA... CONNECT WITH MATT 🌍 Website: [https://mattrodin.com](https://mattrodin.com/) 📸 Instagram:   / whoismattrodin   🎵 TikTok:   / whoismattrodin   ABOUT MATT Matt believes that love is who we are. He taps into people’s light so that we can form deeper connections with ourselves and one another. He’s a queer maker of music, media, characters, and campfires. Matt most recently played Jamie on the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY. Matt also recently starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Milwaukee Rep, RENT at Paper Mill Playhouse, and the upcoming musical film BEAU. In 2020, he released his first live solo album, Matt Rodin: Live at Home. Matt has also worked as a content producer and consultant for The Tony Awards, Kamala Harris, The Smithsonian Institute, SoulCycle, Hamilton, Cynthia Erivo, Ingrid Michaelson, Playbill, [Broadway.com](http://broadway.com/), Dear Evan Hansen, Write Out Loud, and more.