January 21, 2014, 4:07 pm  As far as film debuts go, it’s hard to find a more auspicious one than that of Barkhad Abdi, playing the Somali pirate who kidnaps Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips.” Mr. Abdi, a limo driver in Minneapolis when he was cast from an open call, learned about acting on the fly from the director, Paul Greengrass, whom he credited with helping craft his performance.  Mr. Greengrass had an unusual approach: he kept Mr. Abdi and Mr. Hanks apart entirely until they shot their first scene together, the moment when the pirates storm the Maersk Alabama. Most of the shoot was intense, Mr. Abdi said, but that was the most intense scene. “That was the first time I actually even saw Tom ever,” he said last week, when he became an Oscar nominee for supporting actor. “That was the first scene that I even used lines for.”  Wrapping it “relieved a lot of stress,” he added, laughing.  It was the scene he had auditioned with, so he had some practice, but Mr. Greengrass avoided rehearsals. “He wanted fresh, he wanted something different,” Mr. Abdi said, already sounding like a veteran performer. “He wanted total control, so I had to become the character and use a lot of imagination.”  It paid off, not only in the Oscar nomination but also in coining a catchphrase: “I am the captain now” (memorably delivered by Tina Fey at the Golden Globes).  Do people come up and say that to him? “Of course, they do,” he said, smiling.
Barkhad Abdi, nominated for his turn as a Somali pirate in “Captain Phillips,” discusses his first scene as a first-ime actor.