Jonathan Majors Bio
Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989) is an American actor widely recognized for his work across independent cinema, prestige television, and major studio franchises. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he first drew widespread critical attention through his performances in The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) and Da 5 Bloods (2020), followed by the HBO horror series Lovecraft Country (2020). He has since built a notable career with leading roles in The Harder They Fall (2021), Devotion (2022), and Creed III (2023), along with his portrayal of Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Majors remains one of the most discussed actors of his generation, both for his on-screen range and for the public events that have shaped his recent career.
Early Life and Background
Jonathan Michael Majors was born on September 7, 1989, in Lompoc, California, within Santa Barbara County. He grew up primarily on the Vandenberg military base with his mother, a pastor, his older sister, and his younger brother, while his father served in the United States Air Force. Majors has spoken publicly about his father eventually leaving the family when he was young, noting that the two reconnected many years later.
The family later relocated several times across Texas, including stays in Dallas, Georgetown, and Cedar Hill. Majors attended Cedar Hill High School and graduated from Duncanville High School in 2008. He has described his childhood as difficult, recounting experiences with neighborhood crime, suspensions from school, and periods of financial hardship, including a time when he lived out of his car while working two jobs.
A turning point came when Majors discovered theatre as a teenager, an interest sparked after watching Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. He has repeatedly credited Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker as the reason he chose to pursue acting as a profession.
Path to Acting
Majors pursued formal training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He later enrolled at the Yale School of Drama, one of the most respected graduate acting programs in the United States, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 2016.
While still a student at Yale, Majors landed his first onscreen role in the ABC miniseries When We Rise, portraying real-life gay activist Ken Jones. To prepare for the part, he met with Jones in person, an early sign of the research-driven approach he would carry throughout his career. His feature film debut followed in 2017 with the revisionist Western Hostiles, written and directed by Scott Cooper, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Additional early work in White Boy Rick and Out of Blue, both of which screened at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, helped Majors gain a foothold in the independent film scene and prepared the way for his breakthrough year in 2019.
Jonathan Majors Career
Early Career (2017–2019)
Majors’s early screen credits include When We Rise (2017), Hostiles (2017), White Boy Rick (2018), and Out of Blue (2018). These projects introduced him to festival audiences and industry professionals, though his most significant breakthrough came in 2019 with Joe Talbot’s independent drama The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019, and was released in the United States by A24 on June 7, 2019. Former President Barack Obama included it among his favorite films of the year. Critics praised Majors’s performance, with The New York Times describing it as a “mournful heartbreaker” and Rolling Stone calling it “deeply sensitive and charmingly left-of-center.” The role earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Breakthrough (2019–2023)
In 2020, Majors starred alongside Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo in Spike Lee’s war drama Da 5 Bloods, released by Netflix. That same year, he took on the lead role of Atticus Freeman in HBO’s Lovecraft Country, a horror series that brought him wider mainstream attention. Vogue described him as “the emotional core of the show,” and his work earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
In 2021, Majors portrayed the historical outlaw Nat Love in Jeymes Samuel’s Western The Harder They Fall, sharing the screen with Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, and Delroy Lindo. He followed this with the 2022 war film Devotion, in which he played Jesse L. Brown, the United States Navy’s first Black aviator to complete the basic training program. In 2023, he appeared in the Sundance-screened Magazine Dreams and co-starred with Michael B. Jordan in Creed III as the antagonist Dame Anderson.
Notable Works and Milestones
Majors entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe as He Who Remains in the Disney+ series Loki, beginning in 2021. He then portrayed the central villain Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and returned as the variant Victor Timely in the second season of Loki. These roles positioned him as a central figure in one of the largest film franchises in the world.
Jonathan Majors Award Nominations
Across his career, Jonathan Michael Majors has received recognition from major awards bodies for his performances in film and television. Notable nominations include a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his leading role in the HBO horror series Lovecraft Country, and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his breakout performance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
Jonathan Majors Awards Won
In June 2024, Jonathan Michael Majors received the Perseverance Award at the Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards. According to the organization, the honor is “given to an individual who has shown that no matter what adversity they face, they will continue to aspire to inspire.”
Jonathan Majors Family
Jonathan Michael Majors grew up primarily with his mother, a pastor, his older sister, and his younger brother, after his father, a United States Air Force service member, left the family when he was young. He has spoken about reconnecting with his father years later and about the lasting influence of his mother’s career in ministry on his own values and upbringing.
Personal Life
Majors has a daughter. He was in a relationship with British dancer Grace Jabbari beginning in August 2021. In May 2023, he began dating actress Meagan Good. The couple became engaged in November 2024 at Ebony magazine’s Power 100 event and married in March 2025. In 2026, Majors and his wife obtained Guinean citizenship following DNA testing that traced their ancestry to the country.