Michael B. Jordan

Michael B. Jordan (born February 9, 1987, Santa Ana, California, U.S.) is an American actor who parlayed a successful career on television into a series of high-profile movie roles, most notably in the Creed and Black Panther franchises. Jordan is known for his finely tuned and compelling characterizations and for his frequent collaborations with director Ryan Coogler. In 2026 Jordan won an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in Sinners (2025).

Early life and first roles

Jordan’s family moved from California to Newark, New Jersey, when he was a toddler. He began working as a child model, and that led to his first acting roles in 1999. That year he notably appeared in an episode of The Sopranos and had a small part in the movie Black and White. Jordan then played a member of an inner-city youth baseball team in Hardball (2001). In 2002 he gained notice for his performance as a teen drug dealer in the first season of the acclaimed series The Wire, particularly the episode in which his character was killed by rivals. Jordan then was cast on the soap opera All My Children, a role he played from 2003 to 2006. During this time he graduated (2005) from Newark Arts High School.

From Friday Night Lights to Fruitvale Station

After appearing in guest roles on various TV shows, Jordan was cast in 2009 as a high-school quarterback in the popular series Friday Night Lights. Before that show ended in 2011, he also portrayed (2010–11) Alex, a loving character with a troubled past, on Parenthood. Jordan subsequently focused on films. In 2012 he acted in the war thriller Red Tails, centered on the Tuskegee Airmen, and in the sci-fi movie Chronicle, about teenagers who gain superpowers. While Jordan had steadily gained attention, his breakthrough came with his critically acclaimed portrayal of the real-life Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station (2013), directed by Coogler . The drama chronicled the final day in Grant’s life, leading up to his being shot by a transit police officer in Oakland, California.

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Stardom: Creed, Black Panther, and Sinners

Though his next two movies—the romantic comedy That Awkward Moment (2014) and the superhero movie Fantastic Four (2015)—were widely panned, Jordan returned to his path to stardom when he took on the role of Adonis Creed in Coogler’s well-received and popular addition to the Rocky canon, Creed (2015). He won even more notice for his electrifying performance as villain Erik Killmonger in Black Panther (2018), which starred Chadwick Boseman and was directed by Coogler. Also in 2018 he played Guy Montag in a remake of Fahrenheit 451, based on the Ray Bradbury novel, and reprised his role as Creed in Creed II.

Jordan next portrayed activist lawyer Bryan Stevenson in the legal drama Just Mercy (2019), based on Stevenson’s autobiography. His films from 2021 include A Journal for Jordan, which was directed by Denzel Washington, and Without Remorse, an adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel. In 2023 Jordan made his directorial debut with Creed III, which earned widespread acclaim. He costarred with Tessa Thompson, who reprised the role of Bianca, and Jonathan Majors, who was cast as a former childhood friend. Jordan reunited with Coogler on the supernatural horror thriller Sinners (2025), set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, during the Jim Crow era. Jordan played twins, Smoke and Stack, former bootleggers and World War I veterans who open a juke joint. For his performance, Jordan won his first Academy Award, for best actor.