# Anthony Mackie

Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. He gained wide recognition for portraying Sam Wilson / Falcon / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and headlining the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and its continuation film Captain America: Brave New World (2025).
Mackie made his film debut in 8 Mile (2002), and earned critical recognition for his roles in Brother to Brother (2004), which garnered him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor, and The Hurt Locker (2008), which earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the AAFCA Awards. He also played Tupac Shakur in Notorious (2009) and Martin Luther King Jr. in the HBO film All the Way (2016).
On television, Mackie starred as Takeshi Kovacs in the second season of Netflix's Altered Carbon (2020) and currently leads the Peacock series Twisted Metal (2023–present). In theater, he has performed in Broadway and Off-Broadway adaptations, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, A Soldier's Play and Carl Hancock Rux's Talk, for which he won an Obie Award in 2002.

## Early life

Mackie was born on September 23, 1978, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Martha (née Gordon) and Willie Mackie Sr., a carpenter who owned a roofing business, Mackie Roofing. His brother, Calvin Mackie, is a former associate professor of engineering at Tulane University who now works at the Louisiana Recovery Authority. Mackie attended Warren Easton Sr High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and graduated from the high school drama program at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) in 1997. He later graduated from the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997–2001), which also included actors Tracie Thoms and Lee Pace.

## Career

In 2002, Mackie worked as an understudy to Don Cheadle in Suzan-Lori Parks' play Topdog/Underdog and won an OBIE Award for his role in Carl Hancock Rux's play Talk. He appeared in the 2002 film 8 Mile as the main antagonist, Papa Doc. His first starring role in a feature film was the 2003 independent film Brother to Brother, where he played Perry, a young artist who struggles to adjust to the world as a gay black man. The following year, Mackie appeared in Million Dollar Baby, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and starred in Spike Lee's She Hate Me. In 2006, Mackie starred in Half Nelson, Crossover, and We Are Marshall.
In March 2008, Mackie starred in three plays by playwright August Wilson at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and Jitney – all part of "August Wilson's 20th Century", a month-long presentation of ten staged readings of Wilson's "Century Cycle". Mackie has participated several times in the "24-Hour Plays" held in New York City each fall. In mid-2009, he played the role of Pentheus in the New York City Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of The Bacchae. He starred with Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway in February 2010.
Mackie portrayed late American rapper Tupac Shakur in the 2009 film Notorious. He had previously portrayed Shakur in the play Up Against the Wind in 2001, while attending Juilliard. In 2009, he appeared in The Hurt Locker. Mackie also narrated The Best That Never Was, a documentary about football player Marcus Dupree. He appeared in the 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau as Harry Mitchell, a sympathetic member of a shadowy supernatural group that controls human destiny. Mackie co-starred, as Sam Wilson / Falcon, in the Marvel Studios sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He reprised the role in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films over the next several years, including 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, 2016's Captain America: Civil War, 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, and 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
In 2016, Mackie portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the HBO TV drama All the Way. In 2018, Mackie appeared as gang leader King in The Hate U Give, a film adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name. In 2019, Mackie had a role in the Netflix science-fiction film, IO.
In July 2018, it was announced that Mackie was cast in the role of Takeshi Kovacs for the second season of Netflix's science-fiction series, Altered Carbon. In March 2019, it was announced that Mackie was cast in the fifth season of Netflix's science-fiction anthology series, Black Mirror. The following month, Disney confirmed a Marvel television series starring Mackie and Sebastian Stan, called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, would be aired on their upcoming Disney+ streaming service, debuting on March 19, 2021. Mackie starred in and produced the science fiction film Outside the Wire which was released by Netflix on January 15, 2021. In August 2021, Mackie closed the deal to reprise the role in the fourth Captain America film, Captain America: Brave New World.
In January 2022, it was announced that Mackie will helm the drama film Spark, starring Saniyya Sidney, as his directorial debut project. In February 2022, he was set to lead action film Ending Things along with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, directed by Kevin Sullivan and star in a live-action series adaptation of the game Twisted Metal at Peacock. In 2022, it was announced Mackie would be attached to a film based on the 1956 Sugar Bowl which features his brother's Alma mater Georgia Tech. Mackie also appears in the 2024 documentary Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie: Gulf Coast.
Mackie is set to reprise his role as Captain America in the upcoming Avengers movies, Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).

## Personal life

In 2014, Mackie married his long-time girlfriend and childhood sweetheart Sheletta Chapital. They divorced in 2018. The couple has four sons together and the family lives in New Orleans. In February 2025, Mackie was asked about his current love life and said he was just focusing on raising his children because: "The idea of dating is really hard. How do you trust someone? How do you put yourself in a position to be vulnerable? How do you know what someone really [wants] from you when all you want is to just be loved and appreciated? What does that look like?”
Mackie opened a bar called NoBar in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in the summer of 2011. He had plans to open a second NoBar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2013, but closed all NoBar locations in 2015.
In November 2013, Mackie was arrested for driving while intoxicated after he was initially stopped by police for having tinted windows, which are illegal in New York. He was pulled over at 1:22a.m., officers noticed an odor of alcohol and observed that Mackie had bloodshot eyes. He was fined $300, ordered to complete a drunk driving program and banned from the road for 90 days in New York state for the violation.
On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Mackie revealed that he has dyslexia.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | 8 Mile | Clarence "Papa Doc" | |
| 2003 | Crossing | Cass | Short film |
| 2003 | Hollywood Homicide | Killer "Joker" | |
| 2004 | Brother to Brother | Perry | |
| 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | PFC Robert Baker | |
| 2004 | She Hate Me | John Henry "Jack" Armstrong | |
| 2004 | Haven | Hammer | |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Shawrelle Berry | |
| 2005 | The Man | Booty | |
| 2006 | Freedomland | Billy Williams | |
| 2006 | Half Nelson | Frank | |
| 2006 | Heavens Fall | William Lee | |
| 2006 | We Are Marshall | Nate Ruffin | |
| 2006 | Crossover | Tech | |
| 2007 | Ascension Day | Nathaniel "Nat" Turner | |
| 2008 | Eagle Eye | Major William Bowman | |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Sergeant J. T. Sanborn | |
| 2009 | American Violet | Eddie Porter | |
| 2009 | Notorious | Tupac Shakur | |
| 2009 | Desert Flower | Harold Jackson | |
| 2010 | Night Catches Us | Marcus Washington | |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | Harry Mitchell | |
| 2011 | 10 Years | Andre Irine | |
| 2011 | What's Your Number? | Tom Piper | |
| 2011 | Real Steel | Finn | |
| 2012 | Man on a Ledge | Mike Ackerman | |
| 2012 | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | Will Johnson | |
| 2013 | Gangster Squad | Coleman Harris | |
| 2013 | Repentance | Tommy Carter | |
| 2013 | Pain & Gain | Adrian Doorbal | |
| 2013 | The Fifth Estate | Sam Coulson | |
| 2013 | Runner Runner | Agent Eric Shavers | |
| 2013 | The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete | Kris | |
| 2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2014 | Black or White | Jeremiah Jeffers | |
| 2014 | Shelter | Tahir | |
| 2014 | Playing It Cool | Bryan | |
| 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2015 | Ant-Man | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2015 | Our Brand Is Crisis | Ben | |
| 2015 | Love the Coopers | Officer Percy Williams | |
| 2015 | The Night Before | Chris Roberts | |
| 2016 | Triple 9 | Marcus Belmont | |
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2017 | Detroit | Karl Greene | |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2018 | The Hate U Give | King | |
| 2019 | Io | Micah | Also executive producer |
| 2019 | Miss Bala | Jimmy | |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Sam Wilson / Falcon | |
| 2019 | Point Blank | Paul Booker | |
| 2019 | Synchronic | Steve Denube | |
| 2019 | Seberg | Hakim Jamal | |
| 2020 | The Banker | Bernard Garrett | Also producer |
| 2021 | Outside the Wire | Captain Leo | Also producer |
| 2021 | The Woman in the Window | Edward "Ed" Fox | |
| 2023 | We Have a Ghost | Frank | |
| 2023 | If You Were the Last | Adam Gary | |
| 2023 | Ghosted | Grandson of Sam | Cameo |
| 2024 | Elevation | Will | Also producer |
| 2025 | Captain America: Brave New World | Sam Wilson / Captain America | Also executive producer |
| 2025 | The Electric State | Herman (voice) | |
| 2025 | Sneaks | Ty (voice) | In-production |
| TBA | Desert Warrior | TBA | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | As If | Bar Patron | Episode: "Seven"; uncredited |
| 2003 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Carl Hines | Episode: "Pravda" |
| 2004 | Sucker Free City | K-Luv (Keith) | TV movie |
| 2010 | 30 for 30 | Narrator | Episode: "The Best That Never Was" |
| 2013 | Top Chef: New Orleans | Himself | Episode: “Like Mama Made” |
| 2016 | All the Way | Martin Luther King Jr. | TV movie |
| 2018 | Animals | Receipt (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Black Mirror | Danny Parker | Episode: "Striking Vipers" |
| 2020 | Altered Carbon | Takeshi Kovacs | 8 episodes |
| 2021 | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Sam Wilson / Falcon / Captain America | Main role; 6 episodes |
| 2021 | Marvel Studios: Assembled | Himself | Documentary; Episode: "Assembled: The Making of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" |
| 2021 | Solos | Tom | Episode: "Tom" |
| 2021 | 2021 ESPY Awards | Himself/host | Awards show |
| 2023 | Rennervations | Himself | Guest |
| 2023–present | Twisted Metal | John Doe | Main role; also executive producer |
| 2024 | What If...? | Sam Wilson / Captain America (voice) | Episode: "What If... the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?" |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
| 2018 | NBA 2K19 | Big Tunney | Also motion capture |

### Theme park attractions

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2022 | Avengers: Quantum Encounter | Sam Wilson / Captain America | Disney Wish |

### Stage

| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
| 2001 | Up Against the Wind | Tupac Shakur | Off-Broadway debut |
| 2002 | Talk | Moderator | Off-Broadway |
| 2003 | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Sylvester, understudy Levee | Broadway debut |
| 2004 | Drowning Crow | Constantine Trip | Broadway |
| 2005 | McReele | Darius McReele | Off-Broadway |
| 2005 | A Soldier's Play | Private First Class Melvin Peterson | Off-Broadway |
| 2008 | The Good Negro | James Lawrence | Off-Broadway |
| 2009 | The Bacchae | Pentheus | Off-Broadway |
| 2010 | A Behanding in Spokane | Toby | Broadway |

## Awards and nominations

| Association | Year | Work | Category | Result |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 2004 | Brother to Brother | Best Debut Performance | Nominated |
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | 2004 | Brother to Brother | Breakthrough Actor | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | 2004 | She Hate Me | Best Breakthrough Performance | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | 2006 | Sucker Free City | Outstanding Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Ensemble Cast | Won |
| Gotham Independent Film Award | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Ensemble Cast | Won |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Ensemble | Won |
| Online Film Critics Society Award | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| AAFCA Awards | 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Best Supporting Actor | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | 2010 | The Hurt Locker | Best Supporting Actor | Won |
| NAACP Image Awards | 2010 | The Hurt Locker | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | 2010 | Night Catches Us | Best Actor | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | 2010 | Night Catches Us | Outstanding Ensemble | Nominated |
| NAACP Image Award | 2011 | Night Catches Us | Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | 2012 | The Adjustment Bureau | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| NAACP Image Awards | 2012 | The Adjustment Bureau | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | 2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| Teen Choice Awards | 2014 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Choice Movie Scene Stealer | Nominated |
| MTV Movie Awards | 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Ensemble Cast | Nominated |
| Teen Choice Awards | 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, and Jeremy Renner) | Nominated |
| Kids' Choice Awards | 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | #SQUAD (shared with cast) | Nominated |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2021 | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Best Hero | Won |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | 2021 | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Best Duo (shared with Sebastian Stan) | Won |
| Saturn Awards | 2022 | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Saturn Award for Best Actor in a Streaming Television Series | Nominated |