Michael B. Jordan has publicly identified himself as an African American man. His first wide recognition came as Wallace on The Wire, a role he landed after multiple callbacks as a teenager, and he followed it with work including Friday Night Lights before his film career took hold. His film breakthrough arrived as Oscar Grant in Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (2013), a performance that drew wide critical praise.
His film work also includes the role of Adonis Creed in the Creed series and Erik Killmonger in Black Panther. He also starred in and produced Just Mercy. In its March 2023 tribute, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce recognized his move into feature directing with Creed III and honored him with a star in its Motion Pictures category. Creed III opened to a franchise-best $58.6 million, a debut that made his first film behind the camera a commercial event as well.
Jordan launched the production company Outlier Society in 2016. In 2018, he announced that the company would adopt an inclusion rider for all of its projects, an early and closely watched industry commitment. The Chamber records that he established its fellowship in 2019 with support from the Obama Foundation and My Brother’s Keeper, a paid internship and mentorship program for young people ages 18 to 24 in the Los Angeles area interested in media and the arts. In 2020, he and Color of Change launched the ChangeHollywood initiative. These collaborations connected his screen career with efforts to widen participation in the entertainment industry.
In 2025, he reunited with director Ryan Coogler for Sinners, playing twin brothers in the Mississippi Delta, and the film surpassed $300 million worldwide.
