They are two stars in two very different fields. On one side there is Michael Jordan, one of the most legendary basketball players of all time. On the other, there is Michael B. Jordan, an actor who has yet to achieve Hollywood legend status but is obviously not far off. The first is 24 years older than the second and they have the same name, except for one letter. Enough to wonder if they are related. Are Michael Jordan and Michael B. Jordan father and son? Are they uncle and nephew? Are they cousins? Or complete strangers to each other? We tell you everything.
Michael Jordan and Michael B. Jordan have one thing in common
Selon le site How Many of Meof the approximately 336 million Americans who populate the United States, there are 3,249 Michael Jordan. A number that can vary from day to day. So, if there was obviously a small chance that they are from the same family, the two most famous Michael Jordans on the planet only have their identity in common.
The eldest, Michael Jordan, was born in 1963 in Brooklyn, one of the boroughs of New York, on the East Coast. And his middle name is Jeffrey. He spent most of his basketball career in Chicago, from 1984 to 1998: he was the undisputed star of the Bulls and the NBA; he was crowned champion six times and five times best player, he was also twice Olympic champion. He ended his career with the Washington Wizards in 2003 after taking a three-year mini-retirement. Since then, he has become a businessman and an amateur golfer.
The youngest, Michael B. Jordan, was born in 1987 in Santa Ana, California on the West Coast. The “B” is for Bakary. And it’s not in homage to the basketball player – already a star when he was born! – that his parents chose to name their eldest son Michael: the actor actually bears the same name as his father, Michael A. “He didn’t really realize what he was going to put me through during the first years of my life”, he joked. But if he has a son one day, the actor of Creed said he did not intend to carry on this family tradition. There will therefore be no, a priori, Michael C. Jordan in the future!
Michael Jordan and Michael B. Jordan, two worlds apart
Michael B. Jordan has repeatedly explained that he has no connection with the famous basketball player. But having the same name as the sportsman has earned him some mockery and inconvenience, such as when ordering a pizza by phone: “We thought it was a joke and they hung up on me!told the interpreter of Killmonger in Black Panther. I went there once, slammed my ID on the counter, got two free pizzas. It worked. » But he also recognizes that, somewhere, wearing this illustrious surname had a positive impact on his career: “It gave me the spirit of competitionsaid Michael B. Jordan. It made me want to fight in everything I did. I told myself that I had to be as good, if not better, than him in his field. »
When he landed in the very first role in an episode of Soprano, in 1999, it was under the name of Michael Jordan that he was credited. Same in the movie Hardall, released two years later. The B., he added it as soon as he got his first big role in the series Listening / The Wirein 2002. For avoid confusion with the athlete.
Have Michael Jordan and Michael B. Jordan ever met?
Have the two Michaels ever had the opportunity to meet and chat? Almost. In 2021, while a guest on Rich Eisen’s talk show, Michael B. Jordan said he once ran into his namesake at an All-Star event: “I shook his hand and it literally lasted less than 10 seconds. I don’t even think he knew who I was then. » Michael B. hopes to meet him for real one day – not only because they have the same name, he also admires the basketball player for what he has achieved in his life. It remains to find a good opportunity for that.
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