Celebrity
Michael B. Jordan is a famous actor who shares the same name as basketball legend, Michael Jordan. He talked about being teased for having the same name and more.
Published on January 14, 2021
2 min readThere are good and bad things that come with having the same name as someone else. For actor Michael B. Jordan, many have wondered if he is related to basketball player Michael Jordan. The movie star has set the record straight and revealed how he used to be teased for his celebrity name.
Michael B. Jordan has a successful movie career
Jordan is an actor with a successful movie career. He is most known for playing the role of Killmonger in Black Panther. But he started out as a child actor.
Jordan had a role on All My Children when he was about 16 years old. He later was on Parenthood and Friday Night Lights. He then started making a name for himself in movies as an adult being in Fantastic Four, Fruitvale Station, Creed, and more.
His name is very similar to Michael Jordan, who won six championships with the Chicago Bulls. He held multiple records in basketball and is now the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets. He also has a successful line of sneakers.
The businessman is no longer in public eye as much. But the actor has been asked about how he feels about sharing the same name as the celebrity.
He used to be teased about Michael Jordan
It’s not easy to have the same as another celebrity. The actor isn’t related to the basketball legend. Instead, he shares the same name as his father, Michael A. Jordan. But he used to be teased for his name.
“We had the same name and I always got teased about not being the real Michael Jordan,” he revealed on Good Morning America. “Honestly [it] gave me a competitive chip on my shoulder and made me wanted to compete at anything I did and create my own lane and have my own legacy.”
Jordan said he played sports growing up so he would get heckled for his name. It then gave him the drive to meet him one day.
The actor answered if he has ever met the basketball player. “No, I met him one time in passing but it didn’t count to me,” explained the actor. He said he always wanted to meet him when they would recognize each other and not just as a fan.
This is the actor’s middle name
The one thing that helps separate the two celebrities for other people is that the actor includes his middle name’s initial. His middle name is Bakari, which means “one with great promise” in Swahili.
The actor doesn’t seem to be related to any celebrities. But once the news was released that Chadwick Boseman died, Jordan released an open letter calling him his brother.
“You cared about the kids, the community, our culture and humanity. You cared about me. You are my big brother, but I never fully got a chance to tell you, or to truly give you your flowers while you were here,” read part of the message.
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