Black Manta: Describing him IS my reward!
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (born July 15, 1986 in New Orleans) is an American actor.
He started off as an architect and city planner before he took on acting. He is best known for his roles as Cadillac in The Get Down, acrobat W.D. Wheeler in The Greatest Showman and supervillain Black Manta in Aquaman.
Selected Filmography:
Film
- Crescendo (2012 short film) as Yahya
- Baywatch (2017) as Sergeant Garner Ellerbee
- The Greatest Showman (2017) as W.D. Wheeler
- The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018) as Duane Jones
- First Match (2018) as Darrel
- Boundaries (2018) as Serge
- DC Extended Universe as David Kane/Black Manta
- Aquaman (2018)
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)
- Us (2019) as Russel Thomas and Weyland
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) as Bobby Seale
- Candyman (2021) as Anthony McCoy/The Candyman
- The Matrix Resurrections (2021) as Morpheus
- Ambulance (2022) as Will Sharp
Live-Action Television
- The Get Down (2016-2017) as Clarence "Cadillac" Caldwell
- The Handmaid's Tale (2017) as Omar
- Black Mirror: Striking Vipers (2019) as Karl
- Watchmen (2019) as Cal Abar & Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan
- Wonder Man (TBD) as Simon Williams / Wonder Man
Tropes and trivia in his works:
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- He spent as much as seven hours a day learning disco dancing for his role in The Get Down.
- He didn't know how to swim, and started learning as soon as he was cast in Aquaman. It turned out he didn't need to as most of the underwater scenes were made in studios and CGI-ed, and Black Manta didn't have any underwater scene, but it still shows how dedicated he can be when preparing for his roles.
- The Other Darrin: Replaces Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections.
- Star-Making Role: He had some success prior but it was his performance as Black Manta in Aquaman (2018) that really launched his career.
