LOS ANGELES – Morgan Freeman's lifetime achievement tribute from the Screen Actors Guild last month was all the more remarkable when you consider the 80-year-old legend's big-screen breakthrough didn't come until he played an intimidating pimp in "Street Smart" at age 50.
But was it that unusual? Black screen stars Samuel Jackson, Laurence Fishburne and James Earl Jones didn't get their due until they were approaching middle age — a point at which they were ineligible, by Hollywood's unspoken code at least, to play romantic heartthrobs and action heroes.
At 31, Jason Mitchell is no kid, but he, along with Corey Hawkins ("24: Legacy") and Daniel Kaluuya ("Get Out"), represents a new class of promising black actors who may change the way audiences picture the Hollywood leading man.
"You know how Tom Hanks is such an everyman that you can look at him and see yourself in it? That's what Jason brings," said Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe, who cast Mitchell as a morally conflicted chef in her new Showtime series "The Chi."
In the past 12 months, Mitchell has had juicy parts in "Detroit," "Kong: Skull Island" and "Mudbound," with a formidable but unsuccessful campaign to snag an Oscar nomination for his role in that Netflix standout as a World War II vet who returns to Mississippi to face a different battle.
At the recent Sundance Film Festival, he received rave reviews for "Tyrel," which is being described as a realistic version of "Get Out." He's also set to play the title role in a reboot of "Superfly."
It's the kind of hot streak that has Mitchell set up for an illustrious career — if he doesn't burn out in the process.
"To be honest, I haven't even stopped to look around and say, 'What have I done?' " said the New Orleans native, leaning forward in a sharp charcoal suit inside a stripped-down hotel room. "I'm more of a head-down-and-keep-it-moving kind of guy who's still at the beginning of the race. This is a marathon, even though I started off really fast."
