[ Source: CNN Entertainment ]

Rami Malek is recounting his at-times complicated upbringing as an Egyptian-American growing up in Southern California.

The “Bohemian Rhapsody” actor, his twin brother Sami and sister Yasmine grew up in the Southern California neighborhood of Sherman Oaks in the ’90s. Malek’s parents moved to the US in 1978 from Cairo.

“I’m what’s called ‘white passing’, but I have very distinctive features, and we definitely didn’t fit in,” Malek told The Guardian in an interview published Saturday.

He added that he and his brother became hyper-aware of how people behaved toward them, saying, “we just had an uncanny way of sensing people.”

Malek specifically recalled a time he “got thrown on the bonnet of an LAPD cop car because someone had robbed a liquor store and stolen a woman’s bag,” adding the police said that the thief “was of Latin descent” and that he fit the description.

“My friend, who was Caucasian, was clever enough to go, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian. Not Latin,’” Malek added. “I remember laughing on the cop car, thinking, ‘OK, this is a very precarious situation. I may well be going to jail for something I’ve not done.’”

Even when he travels, he said, his full name – Rami Said Malek – sometimes triggers security alerts.

Nowadays, given his global fame, Malek said these instances happen less.

“There might be a moment. Then they’ll go, ‘Nah, that’s the guy from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Let him through,’” he said.

Malek is best known for portraying rock legend Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a role for which he won a best lead actor Oscar in 2019, making history as the first actor of Egyptian and Arab heritage to win the category.

He is also known for starring in the thriller series “Mr. Robot” and playing the villain in the 2021 James Bond film “No Time to Die.”

Malek will next star in Ella Hickson’s new stage adaptation of the Sophocles tragedy “Oedipus” at London’s Old Vic theatre. It begins January 21.