Report: Barkhad Abdi Was Paid Just $65,000 for 'Captain Phillips'

March 5, 2014 — -- The consensus in Hollywood is that when you've been nominated for an Oscar, you've made it. In the case of "Captain Phillips" star Barkhad Abdi, this apparently couldn't be further from the truth.

A recent New Yorker article says the Somalia native was only paid $65,000 two years ago for his Academy Award-nominated performance playing the pirate leader opposite Tom Hanks.

During awards season, he told the magazine his clothes were loaners and that he got a town car to drive him around, but only for film publicity.

Read: How Fame Hasn't Changed 'Captain Philips' Star Barkhad Abdi

This for an actor that was quick enough to improvise the now famous "I'm the captain now" line in the film.

"That was a message to Tom [Hanks] that I'm the lead," he told the magazine.

Back in January, Abdi spoke to ABC News and admitted being famous was "not normal for me yet," being that he was a limo driver and worked for his brother's mobile phone store in Minnesota this time last year.

"I never pictured myself as a famous person. I like the essence of film making and storytelling. The fame part, I'm just trying to take it easy," he continued.

He also told ABC that he still lived in Minnesota and was planning on move to Los Angeles soon.

In fact, after his motion picture payday, he didn't even splurge.

"I'm not big into buying stuff, I'm a simple guy," he said. "I bought a car, not that big name of a car, a Saab. I'm not into big name stuff."