Michael Jai White
Michael Jai White
Michael Jai Whiteis an American actor and martial artist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, having starred as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn. White appeared as Marcus Williams in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? and Why Did I Get Married Too?, and currently stars as the character on the TBS/OWN comedy-drama...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth10 November 1967
CountryUnited States of America
I've sold scripts in the past, and also a TV pilot that didn't get made, to Fox. But yeah, I've been writing for a while.
I've never excluded myself because of color. It's never been part of the radar, when I look at anything I do. The majority of the roles that I've played have had very little to do with being black. It doesn't matter what color you are.
I was pretty much a child of 'Monty Python.' I grew up loving that type of humor and even structured a lot of humor in the same fashion.
I don't know when the last time I had fried chicken was. Must've been years. As soon as I think about eating it, I think about the stomach ache I'd get.
When I was young, I had a favorite movie star. One day, I saw one of his movies, and it was bad, and he was bad in it. I could tell he didn't care and only did it for the money. I felt betrayed. I never watched another one of his movies again.
That's something a lot of folks don't know about me - I'm pretty darn funny.
I want to continue to do some great work. I'm nowhere close to where I want to be. I'm a diverse person who's trying to use his art to make the world better.
When I do an action thing, it speaks louder than the things that I've done that are dramatic and comedy. Actually, if you look at my resume, I have just as much comedic things as dramas, and I have far less action things than all of the other things, but I'm kind of defined as an action person.
There's a way that white people and black people spoke in the '70s that is nothing like how they speak now. They spoke from a soul, actually. There's a singsongy way of walking and talking that's just different now.
I remember as a young man seeing these bigger-than-life, strong images of black manhood in the form of Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly, Billy Dee Williams. All these guys were these alpha males who were smart, attractive. I said, 'Wow, I want to be like that.'
I enjoy logic and logic puzzles. And filmmaking is one fun logic puzzle that you gotta win.
Directing was a natural thing for me. Actually, it was far less stressful directing than being the lead actor. I was able to have my input in all aspects of it.
I was pretty much a child of Monty Python. I grew up loving that type of humor and even structured a lot of humor in the same fashion.
There's people saying that 'Jackie Brown' was a blaxploitation movie, when there's nothing at all blaxploitation about it other than Pam Grier being in it.