Mahershala Ali Says He Mourned Saying Goodbye To His 'Moonlight' Character

Mahershala Ali is getting nothing but praise for his role as Juan in Moonlight, but he admits it wasn’t the easiest thing to say goodbye to the character.

“Maybe I was just more open on this particular gig, but I learned so much from working on Moonlight. I was invested in a way that I can’t say I’ve ever been,” the 42-year-old admitted to W magazine.

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“I want to be that invested on every project, but I would leave working on Moonlight to go work on something else – I was working on several things – and I would really miss Juan,” Mahershala added. “I would miss Barry [Jenkins]. It would kind of ache in a way that I wasn’t accustomed to. I missed being out there and staying in his skin. I definitely mourned saying goodbye to Juan.”

Pictured: Mahershala attending the Variety & AARP Movies for Grownups Screening of Moonlight, which was followed by a Q&A to discuss the film with Juliette Lewis, on Monday (January 16) in Los Angeles.

20+ pictures inside of Mahershala Ali promoting Moonlight…