journey to stardom has been anything but. >> is this the route you used to drive? >> yeah. i drive a lot. >> he drove a town car for a living, barely able to pay his rent. he left war-torn somalia at 7, emigrating to yemen then minnesota. >> i remember the war. guns everywhere. >> at just six years old, he lay in bed in mogadishu, identifying guns by the sound of their gun fire. when the maersk alabama was hijacked in 2009, abdi watched, stunned. >> just shocked by this whole pirate scene. >> he hadn't acted a day in his life. but when casting directors descended on minneapolis, he beat out more than 800 others. he and his three friends all cast as pirates, rolls of a lifetime. back at home they remained close. he sees the ship on film, but in