Michael Jai White
Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, martial artist, and director. Though he has appeared in a variety of genres, White is best known for his action and martial arts films. His first major starring role and breakout performance was in the 1995 HBO film Tyson as heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson. He went on to portray Al Simmons in the 1997 film Spawn, making him the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture. His work in Spawn earned him a nomination for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Male Newcomer.
In 1999, White starred opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: The Return, and in 2001, he starred opposite Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds. He has since been cast in several mainstream films in supporting roles, such as The Dark Knight (2008) and the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), though most of his lead roles have been in direct to video films or limited theatrical releases, such as Black Dynamite, Blood and Bone (both 2009), Falcon Rising (2014), Accident Man (2018), Dragged Across Concrete (2019), and As Good as Dead (2022), He directed and starred in Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011), Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016), and Outlaw Johnny Black (2023).
White has been training in martial arts since the age of 7, and specializes in the styles of Kyokushin, taekwondo, kobudō, Shotokan, and the Superfoot System.
