Anthony Mackie

Anthony Mackie

Active - 2002 - 2023  |   Born - Sep 23, 1979 in New Orleans, Louisana, United States  |   Genres - Drama, Action, Adventure

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Biography by AllMovie

A Big Easy-born actor who honed his skills at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts before completing his education at Juilliard, Anthony Mackie portrayed ill-fated rapper Tupac Shakur in a stage production of Up Against the Wind before taunting Detroit-based rapper Eminem as a member of the rival rhyming crew in the box-office hit 8 Mile. Subsequently appearing onscreen alongside some of the biggest names in the business, Mackie took the lead as a sperm-donating former biotech executive opposite Ellen Barkin and Ossie Davis in Spike Lee's She Hate Me, and proved that he could even hold his own against such screen legends as Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman with a substantial role in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. While it may be on the silver screen that Mackie has courted the majority of fame, the ascending star also appeared on the Broadway stage in high-profile productions of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Drowning Crow.

Few actors could dream of a career that advanced as quickly as Mackie's did, and the same year he played leading man in She Hate Me, the then-twenty-five-year-old would earn an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his memorable portrayal of a homeless shelter employee struggling with his cultural and sexual identity in Brother to Brother. Just when it seemed as if Mackie's rigorous work schedule couldn't get any more demanding, the actor would appear in no less than six movies in 2006 including the racially charged kidnapping drama Freedomland, the underground street-ball drama Crossover, and opposite Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox in the fact-based football film We Are Marshall.

Firmly established, he played a supporting role in the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker in 2008, and reprised his role of Tupac Shakur in the Notorious B.I.G. biopic, Notorious (2009). Mackie played a former Black Panther in Night Catches Us (2010) and played a supporting role in The Adjustment Bureau (2011). In 2012, he played the historical figure William H. Johnson, Abraham Lincoln's valet, in the fictionalized (obviously) historical action film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Mackie joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2014, playing Sam Wilson/Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and reprised the role in later MCU movies.

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Factsheet

  • Before deciding to pursue acting, Mackie studied to become an oil-refinery engineer at a New Orleans trade school.
  • While studying at Juilliard, Mackie and his classmates frequently went into the subway on weekends to perform short scenes, poems and songs.
  • Shared an Obie Award for Best Ensemble Performance with the cast of Talk in 2002.
  • Made his big-screen debut as one of Eminem's rap rivals in the 2002 hip-hop drama 8 Mile.
  • Broadway debut came in 2003, when he starred opposite Whoopi Goldberg in a revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
  • Was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance for Brother to Brother (2004) and Best Supporting Male for The Hurt Locker (2009).
  • Opened a bar in Brooklyn called NoBar in 2011.