LAKEITH STANFIELD

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

LaKeith Stanfield’s big break came when he was cast in the feature film Short Term 12, a feature-length adaptation of the 2009 short film of the same name. The feature won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2013 South by Southwest film festival. Stanfield was also nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. From there, his career took off with significant roles in Selma, Straight Outta Compton, and Get Out. He was recently seen in the romantic drama The Photograph opposite Issa Rae and the whodunnit mystery Knives Out. While he doesn’t have many upcoming projects, he has a couple exciting ones. Let’s take a look at them now.

Judas and the Black Messiah

Stanfield stars as William O’Neal in this biopic about Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. O’Neal was a petty criminal who struck a deal with FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). In exchange for dropped felony charges, he agreed to infiltrate the Black Panthers and get close to Hampton. This betrayal led to an FBI raid on Hampton’s house that resulted in his murder by federal agents. 

The Harder They Fall

This upcoming Netflix project follows former gang member Nat Love (Jonathan Majors). After learning that the man (Idris Elba) who murdered his parents twenty years ago is being released from prison, he teams up with his former gang to avenge his parents’ death. The movie has a stellar cast that, in addition to Majors, Elba, and Stanfield, includes Zazie Beetz, Regina King, and Delroy Lindo.