F Murray Abraham — Academy Award Winner and Proud El Paso High Graduate

Class of 1958 | El Paso High School


Fahrid Murray Abraham, known professionally as F. Murray Abraham, is one of the most distinguished alumni of El Paso High School. Born in Pittsburgh in 1939 to a Syrian father and Italian American mother.


"I arrived in El Paso as a small child and grew up within sight of the Rio Grande. Juárez was part of our lives, and it was comfortable and easy to cross the border...
For many years, I secretly felt I was Mexican. But when I was about fifteen, in the middle of a fight, someone said in Spanish, 'Get the gringo.' I looked around and realized I was the gringo. Suddenly I was the outsider. I began to be a loner... and I was a troubled kid until, when I was seventeen, a drama teacher, Lucia P. Hutchins, saw something in me and saved my life.
My first play was The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, by J. M. Barrie. I played a Scot in a kilt. Don’t ask me where the accent came from."


Drama teacher, Lucia P. Hutchins, recognized his potential — his first stage role and the beginning of a lifelong passion for acting.  He was a standout student with a passion for the dramatic arts. He participated in local theater and talent shows and was active in speech and drama programs — all of which set the stage for a remarkable career.


After high school, Abraham briefly attended Texas Western College (now UTEP) before pursuing professional acting studies in Los Angeles and New York. He trained under legendary acting teacher Uta Hagen, sharpening the craft that would eventually earn him international acclaim.


His breakout role came in 1984, when he portrayed Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, a performance that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The role cemented his reputation as a powerful and versatile performer. Over the decades, he has appeared in major films such as:

  • Scarface (1983)
  • The Name of the Rose (1986)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
  • HBO’s The White Lotus (2022), earning widespread acclaim once again


Despite international acclaim, Abraham credits El Paso — and El Paso High — with nurturing his confidence, creativity, and resilience, calling the school the place “where I first stood on stage.”