By Reuters Staff
“Black Panther” actor Michael B. Jordan was named People’s magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’ on Tuesday, the third Black actor in a row to be given the annual pop culture honor.
Jordan, 33, who is single, said the title gave him “a cool feeling.”
“It’s a good club to be part of,” he told People in an interview.
Jordan began his career as a child actor in TV shows like “All My Children” and rose steadily though Hollywood until a breakout performance in the 2013 social justice drama “Fruitvale Station.” In 2015 he starred in the “Rocky” boxing sequel “Creed” and three years later took on villain Erik Killmonger opposite the late Chadwick Boseman in “Black Panther.”
Jordan, whose title was announced on TV show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” follows singer John Legend and British actor Idris Elba, who were named sexiest man alive in 2019 and 2018.
The actor has been vocal in calling for greater diversity in Hollywood. His production company in 2018 was the first to publicly adopt inclusion riders, which stipulate that a film employs a diverse cast and crew.
Earlier this year, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice, Jordan teamed up with nonprofit Color of Change and launched an initiative outlining concrete ways in which Hollywood could invest in Black stories and anti-racist content.
Jordan said the women in his family are proud of his People magazine title.
“When my grandmother was alive, it was something that she collected, and then my mom naturally reads it a lot and my aunts as well. This is one that they’re definitely going to have a special place for,” he told the magazine.
Jordan appears on the cover of the People magazine double issue appearing on newsstands on Friday.