Why Mike Tyson From Hulu's Mike Looks So Familiar
Since the 1980s, Mike Tyson has fascinated boxing fans across the globe while dealing with issues in his personal life that have led to conviction and incarceration, remorse for biting off the tip of Evander Holyfield's ear during their 1997 bout, and rehabilitation for substance abuse. In 1986, Tyson, then only 20 years old, became the youngest world heavyweight champion in boxing. The boxer's ferocity, skills, and blunt temperament injected a new and visceral attitude into the sport and led to tabloid headlines that follow him to this day. His celebrity status provided crossover appeal over the years, including a memorable, and surprisingly humorous role in 2009's "The Hangover," where he had to learn how to punch for the camera as opposed to real life.
Tyson has lived a life of many incredible highs and savage lows. This is why the upcoming Hulu biographic series, "Mike" is expected to hit hard. The series is expected to take a no-holds-barred approach in telling the full story of Tyson's adult life. For a life that has seen its fair share of grit, hard work, danger, violence, and redemption, the limited series format will offer numerous hours to tell his story fully. Laura Harrier will play Robin Givens, the legendary pugilist's ex-wife, while the actor portraying Tyson has appeared in both television and critically-acclaimed films in the past, and certainly has a familiar face. Here are some of the roles from which you may remember him.
Trevante Rhodes had a recurring role on If Loving You Is Wrong as Kelly's attractive neighbor
Trevante Rhodes will be portraying Mike Tyson on "Mike," and he's had his share of notable projects over the past several years. In 2015, Rhodes landed his first major role in a recurring spot on OWN's "If Loving You Is Wrong." Throughout the first two seasons of the show, he played Ramsey Walters, the next neighbor of Kelly Isaacs (Edwina Findley). His part was small to start but grew to recurring status and 14 eventual episodes (via IMDb) before his character was written out of the show during the 3rd season. The series was created by Tyler Perry and was presented in the format of a primetime soap opera with an entirely African American cast. The show focused on the lives and intersections of five married couples and their friends all living on the same street.
Although Rhodes' character was never part of the main cast, his character played a pivotal part in the early plot development of Kelly and her strange and erratic on-again, off-again partner Travis (Denzel Wells).
Rhodes gave a memorable performance in 2016's Moonlight
Trevante Rhodes' performance as the adult version of Chiron in Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" in 2016 provided a kind of revelatory breakthrough performance witnessed only a handful of times each decade. "Moonlight" went on to win three Academy Awards, including a memorable wrong envelope mishap for best picture during the ceremony. His performance in the movie was equal parts emotional, lived-in, and sensual as Chiron came to terms with the pain his mother (Naomie Harris) caused him during his early life as well as his lingering attraction to Kevin (Andre Holland) when the two reunite years later.
When asked if playing a gay man as a straight actor came with any hesitations in a 2016 interview with Texas Monthly, Rhodes replied, "Nah. It's a human story. I say often—apparently this is the most prominent thing that I've ever said because it's all over everywhere—but I could have been born a gay man and I'd be the same guy." His passionate work in the film would lead to a burgeoning acting career on the silver screen.
Rhodes played Sandra Bullock's survivalist partner in Bird Box
Trevante Rhodes' next big-screen project was the enormously popular 2018 Netflix movie "Bird Box." As a post-apocalyptic horror film, the movie broke Netflix records for a streaming film at the time after it premiered on the service succeeding a brief theatrical run. In the movie, Sandra Bullock plays Malorie Hayes, who together with her two small children and a group of survivors after the breakdown of society, must congregate to dodge mysterious entities that trigger those who look at them to die by suicide.
Trevante Rhodes played Tom, who would go on to become Malorie's long-lasting survivalist partner in the race to outmaneuver the menacing figures. A familiar plot point of the story is the use of blindfolds for the characters to avoid accidentally looking into the eyes of the beings. When asked in a 2018 interview (via Original-Cin) what it was like to act blindfolded, Rhodes shared, "Although working blindfolded was liberating at times, my major takeaway after making this film was that I will never take my sight for granted, or any of my senses for that matter." Both his technical prowess and humanistic performance in the movie continued his streak of intriguing film roles.
Rhodes played FBI Special Agent Jimmy Fletcher in The United States vs. Billie Holiday
In 2021, Trevante Rhodes continued his streak of high-profile film roles by playing FBI Special Agent Jimmy Fletcher, a man who is tasked with tracking every move legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday (Andra Day) makes. Fletcher's link to Holiday comes from a true story in which the FBI wanted to keep tabs on the singer for fear of her bold and uncompromising songs, such as "Strange Fruit," which addresses the lynching of African Americans in the Southern United States in the early-to-mid-20th century.
Rhodes plays the ambivalence that Fletcher feels as a Black FBI agent pigeonholed into finding dirt on a singer simply because she is courageous enough to talk about racial injustice, with both sincerity and a fiery spirit of defiance once Fletcher starts to warn Holiday of the feds' plan to destroy her career.
Once you are finished viewing all of "Mike," settling in to watch "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" will allow you to see Rhodes' most recent performance in a career full of intriguing performances destined to continue.