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Michael Jai White's A Martial Artist, Actor, Director; What Is the American actor upto these days?

by Kiara Watson,

Actor Michael Jai White who started his career as a stuntman has been successful to establish himself as one of the Hollywood's accomplished stars at present. Renowned for his martial art skill, White holds black belts in seven different styles of martial art. 

What is the actor, who is best known for his role in the 1995 biopic, Tyson doing at present? Let's find out his career highlights and upcoming projects here.

What Is Actor Michael Jai White Up To? Know About His Upcoming Ventures 

Michael Jai White has a hand full of work at present. He recently completed drama Making a Killing alongside Mike Starr and Jude Moran which is set to release in 2019.

His next upcoming movie which will release in 2018 is Triple Threat. The movie will release in four languages English, Thai, Indonesian and Mandarin.

He is working in other dramas such as The Family Business alongside Ernie Hudson, Valarie Pettiford, and Darrin Dewitt Henson and Primer alongside Amy Johnston. His other ventures are Dragged Across Concrete and HeadShop which are still in post-production.

Martial Artist Michael Jai White's Career Highlights

The 50-year-old martial artist started his acting career in early 1990. Throughout his two decades of career, the actor performed in several big and hit titles and acc u mulated a handsome amount of money. His estimated net worth is $3.5 million.

White is a trained martial artist and he holds black belts in seven different categories including Shotokan, Taekwondo, and Kobudo. He started his early career as a stuntman in the 1990s movies such as Prototype and On Deadly Ground.

His martial art skill landed him his first huge break, the biopic movie of renowned heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, Tyson in 1995. He portrayed the lead role in the movie.

His role in 1997 hit superhero movie Spawn as the lead role made him the first African American to perform a lead comic book superhero in a movie. He received a nomination for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Male Newcomer for the same movie.

He worked in the Mortal Kombat video game franchise web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Furthermore, he also worked as fight choreographer in the 2009 movie Three Bullets

The talented actor performed in several movies such as Why Did I Get Married?, Why Did I Get Married Too?, Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse, Mortal Kombat: Legacy and much more. 

Besides, he made his directorial debut from the 2011 movie Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown starring himself alongside Evan Peters, Dean Geyer, Alex Meraz, and Todd Duffee. He also directed Never Back Down: No Surrender and The Outlaw Johnny Black.

He worked as a writer in projects like Black Dynamite and Three Bullets and also produced some ventures such as PVC-1,  Blood and Bone and Three Bullets

Michael Jai White: Quick Facts

  • Michael Richard Jai White was born on November 10, 1967, in Brooklyn, New York.
  • He holds American nationality and belongs to African-American ethnicity.
  • He is 6' 1" (1.85 m) tall.
  • He attended Central High School.
  • From the young age of eight, he started martial arts training.
  • Prior to acting, White was a teacher.
  • White has been married twice. He is married to his present wife Gillian White since 3 July 2015.
  • Previously, he was married to Courtenay Chatman from  2005 to 2011.
  • White received the Fists of Legends Decade Award in 2014.