“Captain Phillips” Stars Barkhad Abdi and Faysal Ahmed Visit St. Cloud to Promote MNsure [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD - Barkhad Abdi and Faysal Ahmed, two stars from the movie "Captain Phillips" visited St. Cloud on Friday to promote MNsure for young people and the Somali community.

Abdi was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor in Captain Phillips. Abdi was born in Somalia and raised in Yemen. At the age of 14, he moved with his family to Minneapolis Minnesota in 1999.

"Minnesota is home, it feels good to be back here," Abdi says, "Even in St. Cloud, my friend used to live here and I used to come here a lot."

Abdi made his film debut in Captain Phillips, playing the pirate leader Abduwali Muse. Abdi was selected from over 700 participants at the 2011 casting call for the movie.

Ahmed also starred alongside Abdi in Captain Phillips, playing as the films main villain Najee.

Both actors came to promote MNsure, stressing the importance of young people and the Somali community signing up. Abdi says health insurance is crucial, especially for young people in the state.

"It's the young invisibles-people my age and younger than me, they need health insurance and they don't always see the importance of it," Adbi says.