This year’s edition of Variety’s Actors on Actors pairs two of Hollywood’s most compelling talents as they reunite nearly 15 years after “Friday Night Lights” to reflect on the projects defining their careers in 2025.
Michael B. Jordan is featured to discuss “Sinners,” the critically acclaimed horror-thriller directed by Ryan Coogler in which he delivers a dual performance as Mississippi twins confronting supernatural forces — a film that has become one of the season’s major awards contenders.
Meanwhile, Jesse Plemons joins him fresh from “Bugonia,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ genre-bending sci-fi black comedy about two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap a powerful CEO they believe to be an alien, co-starring Emma Stone.
In the midst of their wide-ranging conversation about identity, craft and competition, Jordan offered a revealing reflection on how something as simple as a name shaped his drive.
Michael B. Jordan Reflects on Growing Up With a Famous Name
The moment turns personal when Jesse Plemons asks Michael B. Jordan who his heroes were growing up. Jordan admits he never really had idols as a kid, explaining, “I always feel bad, because I didn’t look up to a lot of people,” adding that his parents were his main reference point for how to move through the world. That perspective, he says, was shaped early on by something he only fully understands now.
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Looking back, Jordan acknowledges that growing up with the name Michael Jordan “affected things in a way that, in hindsight, I can talk about.” At the time, he did not fully grasp it, but he now believes “your name is important,” because it is how you introduce yourself and how the world responds to you. Knowing there was already “another guy out there who’s the guy,” he says, quietly pushed him in a different direction.
That pressure became motivation. Jordan describes it as “a healthy chip on my shoulder,” one that made him want to be competitive and to build “your own identity in a way.” Even before he knew what his path would be, he remembers feeling a clear drive: “I wanted to be great at something, and I didn’t know what it was going to be. I just wanted to be great at it.”
The exchange ends on a lighter note, but still rooted in reflection. After revealing that his father’s name is also Michael Jordan, he shrugs it off with humor and acceptance. “It was all meant to be, real talk,” Jordan says, embracing the strange alignment of fate that gave him a famous name and the determination to make it his own.
