Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother Cast: Latif’s Family and Adversaries
Meet Mahershala Ali, John Cho, Adia and the ensemble whose family ties and shared preparation shape Bassam Tariq's film.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother surrounds Mahershala Ali with familiar faces, but the family at the center of Bassam Tariq’s film is just as important as its adversaries. Adia and Jahleel Kamara play the older children of Ali’s Latif, while John Cho and Giancarlo Esposito occupy very different positions in his life. The ensemble brings together a grieving household, religious guidance and the people pulling Latif toward his old work.
Mahershala Ali plays Latif
Latif is a devout Muslim who works as a contract killer in Houston. After his wife dies, he is left raising three children while trying to provide for an infant whose needs he does not know how to meet alone. The official synopsis frames that journey around the competing demands of work, faith and fatherhood, rather than presenting him as a man with only one problem to solve.
Ali, the Oscar-winning star of Moonlight and Green Book, told GQ that he was drawn to the intimacy and difficulty of Latif’s situation. Tariq explained that he had imagined Ali in the role from the earliest writing. Their collaboration gives the lead a personal foundation beyond the actor’s preparation for the film’s physical sequences.
John Cho plays Pastor Hwan Yoon
Pastor Hwan Yoon is the Korean American faith leader who becomes Latif’s adversary. Cho is recognizable from Harold and Kumar, the Star Trek films, Searching and Columbus, but this role called for a new character history. He told Character Media that he wanted to approach Hwan as an emotionally specific person, rather than turn the conflict into a statement about two religions.
Cho built that history through conversations with Tariq and Ali about their backgrounds, beliefs and people they knew. In Moviefone’s interview, he described the process as a shared effort, with Tariq deliberately making Hwan Asian American. Cho also said he remained closely attached to the script, discussing possible adjustments after a take instead of assuming every change would come through improvisation.
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Adia and Jahleel Kamara play Latif’s children
Adia plays Fatiha, Latif’s teenage daughter, whose responsibilities expand after the family loses her mother. Kamara plays Qadir, her younger brother. Their roles keep the household visible within a film whose promotional material can otherwise make its adult confrontations seem like the whole story.
Adia told GQ South Africa that Fatiha’s complexity drew her to the audition material because the teenager was not confined to a familiar stereotype. For the emotional demands of filming, she described arriving an hour before her call time to warm up, meditate and prepare for the day. She rehearsed her Zoom audition scenes with her mother before trying them in the room.
Before this film, Adia played Cheri in Mike Flanagan’s The Midnight Club and Natalia in Steven Soderbergh’s Full Circle. Kamara’s part is tied directly to Latif’s struggle as a parent, a connection highlighted in Special Sense Magazine’s TIFF cast interviews. Together, the two performers make the children distinct members of the family rather than an anonymous reason for the adults to act.
Giancarlo Esposito plays Abdul Malik
Esposito plays Abdul Malik, Latif’s father-in-law and a religious mentor who is also grieving his daughter. He does not approve of Latif continuing his dangerous work while raising their children alone. Understanding that family connection makes Abdul’s guidance more personal than advice delivered by somebody removed from the household’s loss.
Tariq told TheWrap at TIFF that Esposito identified an emotional gap in the screenplay and helped him work through Latif’s relationships. A group read-through led to conversations about where the story’s heart needed more attention. Esposito said he approached Abdul as someone who understood parts of Latif’s struggle through his own experience, adding a different perspective to their scenes together.
Abubakr Ali, Laith Nakli, Tramell Tillman and Tiffany Boone
Abubakr Ali plays Hatty, while Laith Nakli plays Mike Mahmoudi, the figure trying to draw Latif back into work. The Film Stage’s TIFF review identifies Hatty as Mike’s nephew, clarifying why their roles belong to the same side of Latif’s predicament. Abubakr Ali told Special Sense Magazine that the screenplay had a strong emotional effect on him before he began working out how to approach Hatty.
Tramell Tillman plays Talib, Latif’s brother-in-law, while Tiffany Boone plays Fugazi. Both characters connect to the urgent needs of Latif’s family, with Peter Travers’ review describing Talib as a doctor who helps put him in contact with Fugazi. Their links to care and family place them in a different part of the story from the people trying to draw Latif back into his old work.
The performances were shaped together
Cho told Moviefone that the physical work required more choreography than he had first appreciated while reading the screenplay. He and Ali learned the sequences step by step, with Ali taking on the more demanding sword work. Alongside Esposito’s discussions about the script, that preparation shows how the cast helped Tariq connect the film’s personal relationships with its action.
The film began its limited US theatrical release on September 25, 2026. The Numbers lists an expansion to wide release on October 9, so that date is part of the rollout rather than the first opportunity to see it. Check local cinema listings for availability, and explore FilmiFeed’s movie cast guides and character explainers for more ensembles and stories.
