Michael B. Jordan

Michael Bakari Jordan, middle of three children, was born in Santa Ana, California, to Donna (Davis), who works at Arts High, and Michael A. Jordan, a caterer. His middle name means "noble promise" in Swahili. Graced with the opportunity to begin a professional acting career early in his life, Michael caught the eye of Dr. Bill Cosby and was cast in the recurring role of "Michael" for the CBS sitcom series "Cosby" in 1999. Almost simultaneously, he appeared on the HBO series "The Sopranos". The following year, he was selected from hundreds of hopefuls, to play Jamal, in the Paramount Pictures feature film, Hardball starring Keanu Reeves. In 2003, Michael became the youngest African-American actor to be contracted with the ABC network daytime drama series, "All My Children," in the role of "Reggie," Jackson Montgomery's adopted son. Michael later moved to Los Angeles where he soon landed a lead role in the independent film Blackout, starring Melvin Van Peebles, Jeffrey Wright, and Zoe Saldana. In the fall of 2007, Michael was cast to The N network's sitcom "The Assistants." He also appeared in his first feature film when he was cast in Rockmund Dunbar's ensemble "Pastor Brown" which premiered in the American Black Film Festival in the summer of 2009. He has had guest appearance roles for "CSI," "Cold Case," "Lie to Me," "Without a Trace" and "Law & Order."Jordan has starred in two of the most significant television dramas of the past decade. First, he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the hard-shelled, softhearted young urbanite Wallace in HBO's dramatic hit series "The Wire". He then went on to star as the role of quarterback Vince Howard on "Friday Night Lights" (NBC). He also played a recovered alcoholic, Alex, on NBC's "Parenthood".Michael has received NAACP Image Award Nominations for "Outstanding Male Actor in a Television Daytime Drama Series" in 2005, 2006 & 2007.Michael successfully took on his first major leading film role when he starred as 'Oscar Grant' in Fruitvale Station (dir: Ryan Coogler). The film is an account of Oscar's controversial slaying by police officers on a San Francisco train platform. The cast includes Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz, and was produced by Forest Whitaker (Significant Films). It premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film. It also screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category. Fruitvale has garnered many awards including Best First Feature at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards and the 2014 Stanley Kramer Award from the Producer's Guild of America. The 2013 New York Film Critics Circle honored Fruitvale Station with Best First Film and the picture was also chosen as one of the Top Ten Films at the 2013 National Board of Review Awards, where Michael took home the award for Breakthrough Actor. Michael also won the 2013 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Actor. In 2015, Michael starred in a new version of Fantastic Four (2015) (dir: Josh Trank), playing the role of 'Johnny Storm' aka 'The Human Torch', opposite Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, and Kate Mara for 20th Century Fox. The film was released on August 7th 2015. Michael previously starred in 20th Century Fox's box office hit Chronicle (which was also directed by Josh Trank), a supernatural thriller that follows three Portland teens (MBJ, Dane Dehaan, and Alex Russell) as they develop incredible powers after exposure to a mysterious substance; That Awkward Moment (dir: Tom Gormican) opposite Zac Efron and Miles Teller for Focus Films; and the George Lucas produced film Redtails (dir: Anthony Hemingway), the story of the first African American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during WWII aka The Tuskegee Airmen. He resides in Los Angeles, where he enjoys supporting charities such as Help USA and Lupus LA.