Someone Asked Michael B. Jordan About Hollywood, And He Summed 'The Weirdest' Thing Up In 8 Simple Words

The past year has arguably been the most significant of Michael B. Jordan’s career. Ryan Coolger’s Sinners was a box office smash, earning Jordan his first Oscar nomination for Actor in a Leading Role and a record-breaking 16 award nods for the film overall. This is far from Jordan’s breakout role, but it definitely is a career-defining project, and has raised him to a new level of notoriety. So when someone asked Jordan about his experience in Hollywood, the Sinners actor summed ‘the weirdest’ thing up in eight simple words.

Leading up to the 98th Academy Awards on the 2026 TV schedule, Jordan sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss his career leading up to Sinners, the challenge playing twins in the vampire flick, and his upcoming directorial project, a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. The Black Panther actor was also asked what he thought the weirdest thing about Hollywood was after over a decade in the business. His answer was honest and simple:

Is Hollywood stardom all a ruse? There definitely are aspects of fame and celebrity life exaggerated by the media, and it's a lot of who knows who. The fact that actors have to campaign for their Oscar nomination is so disappointing to find out, and I’m personally glad that Gwyneth Paltrow called out the greed of awards season.

But that’s not entirely what Jordan is getting at. The truth is, there is so much talent in Hollywood, careers that take years of guest spots and rejections and putting personal lives on hold to build. The Creed actor expanded on his initial answer, explaining how Hollywood ignoring these smaller moments for the big picture has always felt strange to him:

The Just Mercy star is right, and this sudden burst of success is often linked to this strange parasocial effect, specifically with actors. When an actor has a breakout role, they typically start to book more roles. Audiences start seeing their face a lot more, and fans might feel like they know the actor more personally because of the raw emotion required for many roles.

Now all of a sudden, the public is very aware of this newly minted famous person, seemingly overnight. Social media has only intensified this effect, often in ways that invade celebrities’ privacy. It’s why many actors, including Jordan, try to keep their personal lives away from the public eye, something veteran actor Denzel Washington advised him to do.

So while the media and Hollywood likes to perpetuate images of overnight fame, this is often not the case. There’s a lot the public doesn’t know about the early years of chasing a Hollywood dream.

Before his first feature film, Fruitvale Station, Jordan had dozens of guest spots on TV shows like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Sopranos, Friday Night Lights, and a 13 episode arc on the first season of The Wire. The Without Remorse actor also happened to replace his late friend and co-star Chadwick Boseman in the soap opera All My Children, long before they ever worked together on Black Panther. Even before he decided to move to Hollywood and pursue acting full time at age 15, Jordan was in front of the camera as a child model for Toys R Us and Modell’s Sporting Goods.

A more recent example of this overnight success would be the rocket-like rise to fame of Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams. The queer hockey romance topped HBO charts in its first week with so much momentum that Williams and his co-star Connor Storrie ended up carrying the Olympic torches not even 3 months later.

With this successful lead debut, it may seem like Williams has seemingly popped out of nowhere, but like Michael B. Jordan, the 25-year-old Canadian actor has been pursuing a film career for years, with multiple small parts before his breakout role. He was even working as a waiter for The Old Spaghetti Factory when he auditioned for Heated Rivalry.

Perhaps Williams will find himself an Oscar nominee one day, but right now it is Jordan’s turn, and it’s long overdue. Be sure to tune into the 98th Academy Awards when they air live March 15 on ABC to see if Smoke and Stack bring home the win.