You may recognise rising star and your latest heartthrob, Aramis Knight, from projects like Ender’s Game, Into the Badlands – and marking his leap into the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Red Dagger, the Asian-American superhero in Disney+ series Ms. Marvel. As he continues to branch out in Hollywood, one assumes he might not want to be an action star forever, with ambitions to open a dog hotel and explore the great outdoors, one 1980s chevy g20 starcraft campervan at a time.
Firstly, let’s talk about your unique name. Nothing to do with the popular 80s men’s aftershave then?
Ha! No, my Mom named me after the Three Musketeers, she was watching The Man in the Iron Mask, and told herself she was going to name her first son Aramis.
He’s the romantic one right, any similarities between you both?
Uh… I would say so!
Ok, so let’s talk about Ms. Marvel. Was a comic book superhero always on your list of childhood goals?
It’s funny I feel like my friends kind of manifested it for me, because when I was on the martial arts show before the AMC show [Into the Badlands], they would always tell me ‘oh Marvel is going to scoop you up’, and I never really gave it that much thought, but obviously as an actor that’s kind of the pinnacle, or something you have to cross off your bucket list. So doing this early and for a project like Ms. Marvel, is definitely a dream come true.
How did you get into acting, did your parents encourage you?
I started when I was 5, and worked a bunch as a kid, and it was definitely my Mom that came with me to everything, it was a real Mom and son activity. Then by the time I was 13, it became serious enough where I actually considered making it my lifelong goal, and that’s pretty much where I’m at now.
You’re really into martial arts training, so I imagine that helped you with the physical side of the role in Ms. Marvel, like stunts etc? How does it help with your mental health too, especially being in an industry dealing with rejection and being constantly scrutinised?
Yes I’ve been trained in Wushu for almost 5 years now, my trainer is Daniel Wu, he played opposite me in Badlands, we trained a lot for that show and also for Ms. Marvel.
I think physical activity in general makes me feel much better mentally. I’m a huge basketball player and it can often be like my soundboard and where I can take my frustrations out. I think as a young actor, a lot of times your self-worth mirrors your career, so sometimes if you’re not working, then you don’t feel so good about yourself if you’re used to working all the time. I try and stay up on things I’m really passionate about, like martial arts and I have an 80s camper van and I go camping a lot – having all these side hobbies gives you other reasons to be really proud of yourself. It can be really hard when you’re only an actor and that’s the only thing you see yourself as, you have to expand your horizons and have other things you’re passionate about.
I read there were also hours of dialect training and you had to learn Urdu for your Ms. Marvel character. Do you love roles that challenge you in that way, learning something new for character development?
Yes absolutely. I’m super thankful to have a job where it’s never the same, and I always look for new roles that challenge me where I can learn new things. For Ms. Marvel it was dialect, I learned drill and ceremony on another movie, I went to space camp, have trained in martial arts. It seems like with every new project there’s something new to learn and I like that.
As an actor of colour, were you like, it’s about time, a Pakistani superhero at last, because it’s important for everyone to have a superhero they can relate to and look up to, right?
Absolutely, this is the first time in my career that I’m playing a character that’s authentic to my heritage, which is pretty crazy considering I’ve been working for the last 16 years or so. It’s definitely few and far between to play a Pakistani character, let alone a superhero.
With Ms. Marvel the show is really authentic as our show runner was raised in a Muslim household, so it all ran through her, and we definitely wanted to be very respectful of the culture and wanted to get the Pakistani-American character right. It’s interesting when I’ve watched the show with my parents, as my Mom is white and my Dad is Pakistani-Indian raised in a Muslim household, and I can tell that my Dad understands every joke, whereas my Mom doesn’t quite understand, she’ll still laugh, but she doesn’t quite get what it’s like to be raised in a Pakistani household.
So in terms of diversity and representation, what type of roles would you like to play next, to continue that cultural conversation about pride and identity?
I think diversity is super important, but I’m not always in control of the roles that I want to play, but next I want to do something that’s quite shocking, that’s way out of the box, that’s not like me at all, I think I have some characters in me that I haven’t let loose yet, that I want to.
My character Kareem [in Ms. Marvel] might be a superhero, but he’s still just a kid from Karachi, so I think I would like to play more quirky characters in the future.
Who did you look up to as a child yourself? Any acting heroes you would love to work with?
I’m a huge Brando fan, he’s probably the best of all time. Also Denzel Washington, Christoph Waltz, Christian Bale, they’re all the greats.
What role in an iconic movie do you wish that you could have played?
I would have loved to play Gary Oldman’s character, Drexl, in True Romance. I love Gary Oldman, he’s definitely one I look up to as well.
Can you tell me about any new projects you’re working on?
There’s a few projects going on, the one I can tell you about is Baby Blue, which is a horror movie I produced and starred in, I’ve been wanting to get behind the camera more for creative control, which is a lot more fun. It was a special experience to put a project together as I have a very business-orientated brain as well as creative, so being able to do both of those things at once was a really good experience. Down the line I definitely see myself as a director too, I’m doing it on a small scale now, but I would love to direct a big feature.
Looking ahead then, is there a story you’ve always loved that you would like to adapt for the big screen then?
Man… an adaptation? That’s a really good question, I’ve not thought about adaptations, I’ve always had original ideas, but I’m big into psychological thrillers so I would start there, and I’m friends with a lot of the next gen of up-coming actors, so I would want to work with them.
Is there another dream passion you would love to fulfil alongside the movie career?
The ultimate dream is to open a chic hotel in NorCal and make it a dog shelter too, and brand it around the hotel so people come to experience it but ultimately, they’re there to meet and adopt dogs, and I could use the revenue from that to fund saving dogs, as I’m a huge dog person!
According to your Insta, you’re also a huge outdoorsy fan too, or as you like to call yourself, ‘a forest gangster’?
Haha! I’m actually sitting in my camper van now talking to you, it’s a 1980s ChevyG20 Starcraft in immaculate condition, and I got it with only 20,000 miles on it from this guy called Arnie, shout out to Arnie for selling me his van!
What tunes are you singing around the camp fire?
Well I have a camp playlist with everything from jazz music to Kid Cudi to Led Zeppelin, and Kanye and Frank Ocean, anything that’s wavy. I call it my ‘peanut butter’ music, you know when you eat it, and it just sticks in your mouth.
Ok, so if you could choose someone to be sat around the camp fire with, who would it be?
Keira Knightley, circa 2005.
Interesting, why, because you would really enjoy “talking” to her?
Exactly! Haha!
Interview by Kate Lawson
Photography by Hadar Pitchon
Grommer Sophia Portern using Danessa Myrick and Unite Hair.
