In 2026, Vogue cover star Michael B. Jordan is not only an in-demand leading man, but also a respected director, producer, and Oscar winner. Yet the dazzling facets of his career weren’t forged overnight. Jordan, who was born in Santa Ana, California, but raised in Newark, New Jersey, was a child model before making his professional acting debut on television at age 12. What followed were appearances on procedurals like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, and Bones, as well as formative recurring roles on the HBO crime drama The Wire and ABC’s long-running soap All My Children.
Jordan’s first true breakthrough came with his arc as Vince Howard in Seasons 4 and 5 of the NBC sports drama Friday Night Lights But it was his performance in Ryan Coogler’s 2013 biographical drama Fruitvale Station that laid the foundation for Jordan’s movie superstardom. Two years later came Coogler’s Creed—and the rest is history.
Here, in celebration of Michael B. Jordan’s Vogue cover, we revisit some of his earliest years onscreen, when he was still a leading man in the making.