Mahdi Cocci currently stars in the new BET+ series “Bruh,†a 30-min comedy series from powerhouse producer Tyler Perry, which celebrates black male brotherhood. Cocci also co-stars in the NETFLIX romantic comedy feature THE LOVEBIRDS opposite Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, which is now streaming.
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BET+ series “Bruh†examines the contemporary world of dating, career, and friendship through the lens of four African American men with a brother-like bond. Cocci plays Tom, a doctor with lady problems, but he is also the glue that holds the group together. Â
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THE LOVEBIRDS is a rom-com from Paramount/Netflix that tells the story of couple Jibran (Kumail) and ‘Leilani’ (Issa), who on the brink of breaking up, get unintentionally embroiled in a bizarre murder mystery. Cocci portrays Keith, a potential love interest to Leilani who gets in the way of her relationship with Jibran. Originally scheduled to premiere at SXSW, the film is now streaming on Netflix.
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Cocci was born in Minneapolis, MN, and was raised by his mother, Stephanie. Education was always emphasized growing up, and Mahdi earned a full Navy ROTC scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. He put his burgeoning modeling career on hold to serve as an officer in the Navy upon graduation. After serving honorably, Mahdi shifted gears and pursued a career in acting. His first professional credit was earned on the TV series, Dynasty, in 2018, and soon followed by roles on other network shows, including The Gifted, The Resident, MacGyver and more.
AllisonJanel: How would you describe your Swagger? What makes Mahdi, Mahdi?
Mahdi: Hhmm, I like that! What I would like to think my Swagger is a swagger of reason, acceptance, reliability, and understanding. What makes me, me is that I’m a huge fan of human beings and human stories. I’m more interested in people more than anything else. I want to talk to people and hear what they have to say and know how we all interact. Even when they disagree with me, I’m interested in just kinda unpacking that. I’m so motivated in knowing what leads people to have the views that they have.
AllisonJanel: Tell us more about being commissioned in the Navy?Â
Mahdi: I was an officer in the navy and I went to college on an ROTC scholarship, I applied for the scholarship when I was in high school. I didn’t know anything about the service at that time. When I was awarded the scholarship, the decision to become commissioned was kind of made for me. My mother and I didn’t have the ability to pay for me to attend college, so I went ahead and tried the Navy out. I’m so thankful that I did. The time that I’ve spent in the military prepared me to be in a leadership position and also allowed me to develop as a person. I am proud to have served my country. I’m equally proud to be an American.
AllisonJanel: What college did you attend?
Mahdi: I attended the University of Pittsburgh and the navy paid for my 4 years of tuition, books, and a monthly stipend, upon my graduation I owed back 4 years of time served. went back and was commissioned into the navy as an officer for 4 years. Â
AllisonJanel: What attracted you to begin your career as a model and actor?
Mahdi: When I was in high school, my best friend in the world, his name is Will, we were friends since elementary school and we hadn’t connected in a while and we went to different schools for middle school and we didn’t see each other from maybe 8th grade to 10th grade. Then I saw him again in maybe 10th grade or 11th grade. So he stopped by my house, and the first thing that he said to me was a dude you look like a model and my response was like yeah, whatever bro, lol. Let’s get back to what we’re doing. Then a modeling scout approached me within the same year or so in regards to doing some work. So by then, it dawned on me that maybe there is something to this. Then I started modeling and acting. Acting being my active progression I suppose, I started taking acting classes in college. There weren’t really a lot of classes offered yet, but I hadn’t really invigorated the desire as of yet.Â
Then, when I got out of the Navy, I said I was going to move to LA for acting. I started taking classes and I wasn’t good, believe it or not. I was the worst one in the class, everyone was giving their best and the other students were getting advanced a lot faster than I was and I was their like 9 months already. I hadn’t reached the next level yet, some people were only in their 6th month and got advanced to the next level. I was just not that good to the extent that I started skipping classes, and I’m paying for these classes and I was skipping them. All the while the money is coming out of my own pockets, yet I was not going because I felt insecure and I wasn’t prepared for classes. I didn’t feel like going to class to get critiqued negatively at the time. But, then eventually I just got through kinda finding myself and experiencing things. I just committed to myself and said I’m going to face this head-on and go through the growing pains. I just grit my teeth and started bottling and got back into class and just grinded it out. As time went by I started to feel a little progress. I found a class that really resonated within me. I felt the desire of why I was interested in telling human stories and started moving forward into it as a profession. When I finally had the opportunity to start auditioning for professional projects, it was nice to see the result of my first booking which was Dynasty. Dynasty was shot in late 2017 but it came out in 2018.
My turning point was when I went overseas for my last military obligation. I was still active in the reserves even though I was off of active duty. I went overseas and did a prog in just under a year in the united air emirates, I was living and working in Dubai and it was such a great experience. I was doing full-time modeling and doing commercials at the time, so when I was activated in the reserves and went overseas I took a break from the industry work. When I came back to the states, that’s when I committed to going full strength with my acting career. I got out of the Navy completely and the reserves. Through those two decisions, I recommitted to enrolling in different acting classes, sometimes two different classes at a time. Spending approximately, $500.00 a month on different classes and going through that process. A friend of mine referred me to a class called the Imagine Life, located in Los Angeles and that’s where I really found a home in ways of support.
AllisonJanel: How was it working on the movie The Love Birds opposite Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani?Â
Mahdi: They were fantastic and super funny. Getting the opportunity to work beside them was just a gift. I’d like to say that when you have the opportunity to ride the coattails of funny people, then that’s a good position to be in. When you have two super fun people that can just carry the whole movie and the project, then you know your job is to do your part and try not to break character and laugh too much when you’re not supposed to. I thought it was a very funny movie. I hadn’t seen it until it came out on Netflix. I didn’t get a chance to see any early releases or anything. Before the pandemic, I was supposed to go to South by Southwest. That’s when the original premiere was scheduled. Then everything was canceled. So I was definitely waiting for the Netflix release to come out.Â
AllisonJanel: How did the opportunity of Joining the cast of Bruh come about?
Mahdi: Wow! That was really a great experience. I was invited to read for three of the lead roles, for John, Bill, and Tom. I initially thought that Tom was kinda right up my alley, and then my good friend Derek that I worked with thought that Bill was kinda right up my alley, and lastly I felt John was a little bit of a stretch. But hey, I thought to myself, I’m gonna give it my best. I thought that I’d give it a little of the college try. Lol. Then I wrapped up the audition and decided to go on a trip with my sister and her family. They were in Puerto Rico and I decided to join them and hang out with them for a few days.Â
As I was flying back my agent sent me a text, hey call me. I texted back, I’m on the plane, what’s up. He only sends me a text when it’s something important. He’s like they wanna fly you out to LA for a call back for the new Tyler Perry show BRUH. I was like ooh that’s awesome! So I called him when I got back and landed. It was like an amazing experience for me, like wow! I just went and read for three parts. I didn’t even get booked yet so that was great news! Also, the call back was for Bill. I went and I read for the part of Bill and that’s the part played by Monte Washington, shout out to him. And I vandy maxed it. At the first call back. And I was reading for Bill and he was reading for Bill and it was kinda confusing to us cause my name is Mahdi and his name is Monte and we were both like which one, which one are you calling. Our names sounded similar, lol. He’s such a super kool humble dude. We kinda supported each other during the process.Â
I got back to Atlanta and I waited on the news and I hadn’t heard anything. Then over a week later, I got another call back advising me that I’m still in the running. They want to see if I’m able to fly back to LA for another call back with Tyler Perry himself. I’m like uhh yeah, but this time they’re like it’s for the part of Tom. I’m like oooh okay, so I’ve already done one call back in LA for Tyler perry for Bill flew back and now I’m doing it for Tom. Monte was there again, he was still reading for Bill, so I was like aaaaah, I started to feel like this is a good thing because I like this guy and I felt like he just embodies a good Bill. Additionally, it’s not me versus him, it’s like we can kinda get to do this thing together. Finally, the opportunity came where we had the chance to do some chemistry reads. At that point, I had the opportunity to meet Phillip Mullings Jr who plays Mike and Garry Brewer who plays John. We read with all 4 of us in the room as the “Bruh’s†before we were the Bruh’s. This was really kool, I never met any of these guys before the first call back, but we immediately felt the chemistry. I really felt like a fan of these dudes, none of them were leading with their egos, everyone involved was trying to do a good job and supported each other. When the studio got back to us, we were notified that we all were cast. I for one was definitely very happy and pleased, I felt like this was the right group right here. As we started shooting we really developed a real chemistry and friendship bond, so those are really my Bruh’s, you know like, really my Bruh’s now. We are really connected that way. I’m just so super thankful for this opportunity where we can share an experience with everyone. Especially since we’re all in the same place kinda in our careers. Where we’re just starting to get the opportunity. We are so thankful that Tyler Perry gave us all the opportunity to lead a show. It’s the first time for all of us getting to do that. We’re all riding this wave together. Yet, no matter where things go from here out we’re always going to be linked, planted, and connected.Â
AllisonJanel: What’s it like working with Tyler Perry?
Mahdi: You know that’s actually kool that you asked that just because I don’t know if everybody kinda grasps that side of it. But for me, a few months before I auditioned for Bruh, I had the opportunity to work with Tyler Perry for the first time ever. I did a couple of episodes of Sistas.Â
AllisonJanel: Yes, That’s one of my favorite shows.Â
Mahdi: Yeah great show, I love them on that side. But I got the chance to work with him and at the time I didn’t know that he was actually going to be on set like I knew it was his show and everything, but I’m thinking this guy is, you know so busy and so famous and just has so much going on that he probably has an assistant director that actually does the episodes or whatever, so when they brought me to set and he was there I was like ooh aaayyyyyy. You know like, he’s like this A-list celebrity and he’s got this big presence, besides like he’s physically very imposing, I mean like he’s 6â€5 and like 260, he just like carries a lot, he takes up space, you recognize him as this A-List mogul, and he’s got a heavy booming voice. So he’s like an intimidating presence. He’s a super kind and humble person but, you know he’s all business as well. My initial thought was just like, just don’t mess up, just don’t mess up, this man is giving you an opportunity. And you don’t wanna make him think he made the wrong choice, right! and that was kind of my initial thought.
AllisonJanel: Like keep it together, keep it together. Lol.
Mahdi: And then it was kool getting a chance to work with him again on Bruh, obviously it was amazing! But the kool thing you learn over time is it just becomes more about the work as opposed to just like how you know your off by his celebrity presence. The reality sets in and your like alright he’s here and he’s showing up early and he’s doing his best to empower us in getting this job done and we all have to pull our weight. And as a leader he’s tremendous. I’ve had experience working with really phenomenal leaders being in the military, and I’ve had experience working with not so great phenomenal leaders. So you kinda see the quality and characteristics of a good leader vs one who’s not expected, and Tyler Perry just really exhibits all the qualities that I’ve seen in great leaders because he empowers us, he asks the right questions, he gives you enough opportunity to make things happen and everybody is happy. I can compare it to what they call it on a ship or either in the military, they call it the morale, and the morale of the unit is mostly driven by how the commanding officer runs it.
AllisonJanel: Yeah
Mahdi: You know and the morale is super high, as everyone at Tyler Perry Studios is very happy to be working there, they’re very happy to be working for Tyler Perry, there very appreciative of the opportunity, so everyone just wants to do a good job and support what he has going on because he takes care of his people and he supports us, so it’s that mutual support given up and down.Â
AllisonJanel: Do you believe the opportunity you had to star on Sista’s gave Tyler Perry an understanding of you as an actor. Which in turn gave him insight in knowing that Tom would be the perfect role for you on Bruh!
Mahdi: If you would have asked me that, umm right after I shot Sista’s I would have been like, no there’s no way. Because again, he does so much he’s so busy, he sees so many actors, like I’m sure he doesn’t even know who I am. He probably doesn’t even remember. Then, when I went into the room for the first callback for Bruh, And he looked up and said oh hey good to see you again, I was like oh how does he even know.
AllisonJanel: That’s amazing!!!!
Mahdi: A guy that is busy, is just there like no way he could remember like one guy. That was on only a couple of episodes of one of his many shows. You know, But umm so that struck me, and then when I read Tom, so we received all of the scripts uumm because the audition was small, clean a couple of pages, uum for the audition, but then once we booked, we received all twenty-four episodes for the script and when I was reading through it was like, it was so raw like the way I connected with the circumstances in the world of Tom, and it was even at the point that I was even crying, I was like crying my eyes out at certain parts just reading through it because of like how you know closely connected that I am, I’m not saying that Tom is Mahdi exactly, but it’s a part of me, the Tom part of me is definitely like accessible, you know I have something to say in this space.Â
It’s just a testament to who he is, I mean That’s why I think he’s received, achieved the success he’s achieved like he doesn’t miss a thing and for a guy that busy, how do you not miss things, so probably the little time, that I had on sistas was part of his awareness of like where he could cast me, his vision just, I feel like was so accurate because and again, I love Bill and, I would have been happy to play him obviously
AllisonJanel:Â Ha ha ha, He saw something, he saw something different for you.
Mahdi:  Yeah he’s the guy, yeah he is the guy, once seeing him, I was like I kinda had to coincide off as that guy as Bill. Even at the first call back I was like wow he just fit’s the role of Bill. It was the same way I felt about playing Tom. I felt like yeah I am Tom, so you know Tyler Perry could see it, so maybe it’s part of his system.Â
AllisonJanel: What do you like most about your character Tom Brooks.Â
Mahdi: Umm, being the level headed one that kinda holds the Bruh’s together. In my own personal life, I’d like to think that I kinda rule with logic and reason and bring a level head. So the ability to be like the level headed one of the Bruh’s is really rewarding and it’s kinda really connected and you know it’s also nice to kinda. Some of the fan responses have been like very kool where they have been in a space where they like to see a voice of reason, so I kinda have that going for me when some of my Bruh’s have that going out of pocket.Â
AllisonJanel: When you look for roles to play, what type of roles do you look to portray?
Mahdi: Well quite frankly I look for everything. lol.
AllisonJanel: You don’t discriminate, lol.
Mahdi: I really don’t, I mean I’m just so happy to be able to tell any story and just say words on movies or tv shows and actually be hired and paid to do what I love and that’s great. I’ve said three words on a show and booked out so late and was so happy and said yes! It was a win you know. So yeah, I think moving forward obviously, naturally, the market will dictate as we grow into our careers and shift. At this point, I’m probably not going to do three words on tv shows anymore, not that I don’t think it’s awesome, but naturally theirs a progression that happens. So yeah, I still love all the challenges, I love auditioning and working off parts but I guess that if it’s something that I’m striving for or targeting it would just be roles that continue to challenge me. Roles that challenge my vulnerability, challenge me to share things that in my personal life that I’ve largely kept hidden. Things that are strong but underneath have a lot of vulnerability because they scare me a lot of times. To be vulnerable on camera and to be vulnerable in front of people is how we grow, so I’m excited to play more parts that really challenge me in that way. I want to feel that reward as I grow in my personal life as well in my professional one.
AllisonJanel: What does Success mean to Mahdi?
Mahdi: It’s just that we set these goals that are meaningful and difficult for ourselves. Meaningful to us and difficult to achieve for whatever reasons, for whatever challenges that we have in getting towards them. And to me, it just making reasonable progress towards those goals, and as long as we are doing that we are successful because we believe in the progress and we continue towards that. And we must adjust the goals as new things come along.Â
AllisonJanel:Â What upcoming projects can we expect to see from you in the upcoming months of the year.
Mahdi: Bruh is going to have twenty-four (24) episodes on BET+ every Thursday that will run all the way through the Fall of October 2020. Also, you can stream the Love Birds on Netflix you can have a nice 90-minute ride. You know a little escape and have a little fun.Â
AllisonJanel: Yes! Wow, so that means that the viewers will have the opportunity to watch Bruh, throughout the summer. Which is amazing.
Mahdi: There you go! Right, so you’re going to have some new content coming out through the summer. And then you know, ideally we’ll see what happens, I obviously would love to continue telling that story through Season 2.Â
AllisonJanel: Were rooting, were rooting for you. Lol
Mahdi: Those decisions are out of my hands, but ideally, I’m all in.Â
AllisonJanel: In a way, I don’t think it’s out of your hands because I believe innately it’s in your hands because of how good you play your role. Hence, so far the show is doing well and you guys have definitely connected with the viewers. I have a very good feeling about bruh! Very good feeling! I love the show, I look forward to streaming the show.
Mahdi: I appreciate that Allison. Thank you so much! I receive that blessing, I love it. I ‘m all in, I’m ready to go for a second season, I love it.
AllisonJanel: How does it make your mother feel seeing her son on the big screen and seeing how successful you’ve gotten. Like, you’re killing it in 2020, you’re doing well.
Mahdi: Huh! You know, it’s really dope, it really is, that’s kinda one thing that I try my best to not let my ego get too inflated and get my ego involved in the things I do, so I try to be mindful of that and obviously I’m human. But one thing that I will say is it’s hard to, I can’t look past how rewarding it is to share achievements with my mom and my family, you know like it really does touch my heart, because they’ve been patient with me, and parental concern is something that never really goes away,Â
AllisonJanel: Ha ha ha, yep.Â
Mahdi: You know it just kinda takes different forms as we mature into adulthood and I know in many ways, my mother comes from the school of thought. I mean like the traditional school of thought, like where you get your education, you have your backup plan and that keeps you safe, sorta speak. So obtaining my degree in four years, and receiving my scholarship was something that I know my mom felt comforting. I had a guaranteed job waiting for me when I graduated as an officer in the navy, so she found comfort in that because you know like again life has not been all roses it has been a struggle for her financially, raising three kids on her own. I commend my mother and honor her because with three kids she went back to school and received her Masters’s Degree to really do her best to support us. That’s how she had to navigate it so I know that she found that important. So then for me to walk away from the navy and not do anything related to my degree and pursue this endeavor that essentially lead to no money, a lot of credit card debt, ha ha ha, yeah, it’s one of those things where she’s always supported me. Still, I also know that it’s gotta become more and more difficult to watch your child, I mean I’m not a parent yet, but you’re watching your child like what is he or she doing? Or you’re comparatively with peer groups, like my buddies from the navy whom either stayed in or got out and pursued corporate jobs, you know having nice big homes, wives, families, you know 401k’s, benchmarks of success that I did not have, you know, it’s got to be tough. So it’s really, really, rewarding to be able to have something that my mom can tangibly look at positively and share with her friends and start to see this momentum going, and that’s honestly greater than what you want for yourself. For myself, I’m happy to be making progress and taking steps towards where I wanna go but, you know, I wanna hang my hat on some of the achievements like we’re still moving, I still wanna move. But it’s really cool to be like hey mom you can watch this and you know she likes it and she’s like sharing it with her friends and she’s really proud.Â
About AllisonJanel: AllisonJanel is an Editorial Assistant at SwagHer Magazine, Influencer, Blogger, Community Volunteer, and Legal Consultant. You can find her on Instagram @chatwitallyJ