[5][6] Abdi made his debut in the Paul Greengrass directed film Captain Phillips (2013), playing ship hijacker and pirate leader Abduwali Muse.

[15] In the 2017 film The Pirates of Somalia, Abdi played the Somali government-sponsored local agent and translator for Canadian freelance journalist Jay Bahadur.

His character coordinates interviews between local pirate leaders and Bahadur, who records the motivations of Somali piracy in the weeks leading up to the Maersk Alabama hijacking.

[17] In 2022, he acted in the films Tyson's Run and Agent Game starring Mel Gibson and appeared in the Apple TV+ series Little America.

[18] In 2023 he acted in the A24 / Showtime satirical comedy-drama series The Curse starring Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder, and Benny Safdie.

In 2013, Abdi began to serve as an Ambassador for Adeso, a non-governmental organisation founded by the Somali environmentalist Fatima Jibrell.