Before starred in Black Panther, the actor was extremely close to being done with acting.
Following his role on the hit HBO series The Wire, Jordan moved to Los Angeles to work on his acting career. “I remember when I first came to L.A., and me and my mom, we went to all these agencies trying to get representation and they passed on me — WME passed on me, CAA passed on me, Gersh, all these guys f– passed on me,” Jordan told Vanity Fair in a . He was done with Los Angeles because Los Angeles was done with him, until he ran into Andre Royo, who played “Bubbles” on The Wire, :
“He was stressed out,” recounts Royo. “He was like, ‘Yo, I’m not working enough, sh*t is crazy, I think I’m going to go back to New York.’ And he was really on some ‘boo-hoo’ sh*t. And I was like, ‘Yo dog, are you kidding me right now? You in your early 20s and you’re around motherf*ckers trying to feed families who ain’t working. Snap out of it.’”
Jordan would later land bigger and bigger roles. That said, he explains that he is still learning the ins and outs of the film industry. For example, he only made $2 million for Black Panther with residuals. It’s a “rookie” mistake Jordan does not plan on making again. “Moving forward it’s a totally different story,” he said. “This is the defining moment in a lot of different areas for me that’s gonna set up my next 5 to 10. That’s why I’m so locked in right now, because if it was ever a time to get distracted or, like, drop the ball, this is not it.”
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