Michael Bakari Jordan (born February 9, 1987) is an American actor and producer.
He's best known for his roles in Fruitvale Station, the Creed spinoffs of Rocky, and Black Panther. In 2020, People magazine declared him the Sexiest Man Alive.
Unrelated to that Michael Jordan. And yes, he's aware of it.
Selected filmography:
- The Wire (2002) as Wallace
- All My Children (2003 — 2006) as Reggie Porter Montgomery
- Friday Night Lights (2009 — 2011) as Vince Howard
- Parenthood (2010 — 2011) as Alex
- Red Tails (2012) as Maurice 'Bumps' Wilson
- Chronicle (2012) as Steve Montgomery
- Fruitvale Station (2013) as Oscar Grant
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) as Victor Stone / Cyborg (voice)
- That Awkward Moment (2014) as Mikey
- Fantastic Four (2015) as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
- Creed series as Adonis "Donnie" Johnson-Creed
- Marvel Cinematic Universe as N'Jadaka / Erik "Killmonger" Stevens
- Black Panther (2018)
- What If...? (2021)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
- Fahrenheit 451 (2018) as Guy Montag
- gen:LOCK (2018) as Julius Chase, Nemesis and King Demon (voice), also one of the executive producers
- Raising Dion (2019) as Mark Warren, also one of the executive producers
- Just Mercy (2019), as attorney Bryan Stevenson
- Without Remorse (2021) as John Kelly
- Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) as himself
- Untitled DC Comics television series as Val-Zod.
Tropes and Trivia Related to his Career:
- Meme Acknowledgment:
- He seems to be aware of the "Erik Killmonger likes anime" meme, and it's revealed as a trait of his character Killmonger in What If…? (2021).
- His cameo in Space Jam: A New Legacy pokes fun at him sharing a name with the previous film's star.
- Never Heard That One Before: He is well aware that he shares his name with a certain basketball player and has already gotten plenty of grief for it on the playground.
- Production Posse: He's been cast in all three of Ryan Coogler's films: Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther.
- Promoted Fanboy:
- A big fan of Black Panther as a kid, he eventually grew up to play one of the character's arch-enemies in the film adaptation.
- Jordan is a huge anime fan. Now, everything's come full circle, as he's been cast as the main character in an anime—Rooster Teeth's gen:Lock.
- Race Lift: He was cast as the Tom Clancy character John Clark, previously played by the likes of Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber. And in Fantastic Four, he plays Johnny Storm, who in the comics and all previous adaptations is a white guy.
- What Could Have Been:
- He screen-tested for the role of Sam Wilson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the casting of Anthony Mackie. He would eventually go on to portray Erik Killmonger in Black Panther.
- He auditioned for the part of Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 before Dane DeHaan was cast. Andrew Garfield actually recommended him appearing in the movie, but as a male Mary Jane Watson.
