Mike Colter, popularly known as Luke Cage in the action-fiction series “Marvel’s Luke Cage”, is a seasoned American actor who has featured in many other acclaimed projects.
Age, Early Life, and Education Background
Born in Columbia, South Carolina USA, under the Virgo zodiac sign on 26 August 1976, Mike ‘Randal’ Colter is 45 years old as of late 2021. He was raised in St. Matthews, SC, by Freddie M. Colter nee Mitchell, and her husband Eddie Lee, Sr. together with his four elder siblings. Mike began showing acting interest at an early age.
Colter attended Calhoun County High and was a very keen and goal-oriented student – Mike’s senior superlative (voted by the senior class) was ‘the most ambitious.’
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He was later chosen as the president of the school’s drama club and was tasked with organizing plays with the help of his tutors and he learnt a lot of skills as an actor. He matriculated to Benedict College, in which he studied for a year before he joined the University of South Carolina and later graduated with a theatrical bachelor’s degree in 1999. He enrolled for post-graduate studies at Rutgers Mason Gross School of Arts and was awarded a master’s of fine arts (MFA) in acting in 2001. He was lucky to be taught by the famed tutor, William Esper, and was classmates with the actress Andrea Anders who appeared in the sitcom “Joey.”
Interesting Facts and Hobbies
Mike is physically active and enjoys playing basketball and going swimming.
In 2019, he participated in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game held in Charlotte’s Bojangles’ Coliseum – he was a team member of the “home” roster, whose players were Carolina-born celebrities.
He is keen on his diet, and avoids eating junk food and spends most of his free time training and exercising at Trinity Boxing Gym – he is good friends with the popular boxer Martin Snow.
The “Marvel’s Luke Cage” star enjoys spending time with his daughter and wife, sometimes in the kitchen cooking (he likes cooking and is a great chef), or doing fun outdoor activities.
He’s a big supporter of the Black Lives Matter and other social movements held by Afro-American citizens.
Colter passes his time watching TV – his favorite entertainers are Tiffany Haddish and Finn Jones. His favorite film and TV show are “The Defenders” and “Game of Thrones” respectively.
Career
Career Beginning (2002 – 2009)
When he was eight years old, Mike watched 1984’s Denzel Washington-starred film “A Soldier’s Story,” which was nominated for several awards including an Oscar and was very inspired to become an actor. He moved from Los Angeles to New York shortly after he graduated, and auditioned for several roles. He made his acting debut as Watt in 2002 in the medical-drama show “ER”, then in 2004 he was cast in the movie “Million Dollar Baby,” directed by the American actor and producer Clint Eastwood, and starred Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank, and which won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director.
Before the year ended, he played several minor roles and was thereafter cast for a guest role in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in 2009.
Rise to Stardom and Recent Works (2010-Now)
2010 saw Colter portraying Lemond Bishop in the show “The Good Wife,” and catch the public’s attention with his praised performance in the 21 episodes he appeared in. In the following year, he was cast in the crime-drama show “Ringer” as Ward, appearing until 2012; the show also starred Kristoffer Polaha, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ioan Gruffudd. Later that year, he appeared in “Men in Black 3”, and then in “Zero Dark Thirty.” During 2013-2014, he made appearances in a few episodes of the horror show “American Horror Story”, before appearing in the series “The Following.”
In 2015, Mike appeared in several shows including “Halo: Nightfall” and “Agent X”, before he landed his biggest role of Carl Lucas (Luke Cage) in Marvel’s “Jessica Jones” and then it’s spin-off “Marvel’s Luke Cage”, appearing in the Emmy Award-winning show for 26 episodes. Mike’s fame saw him later selected to appear in several projects, such as the series “Extinction,” the award-winning film “Skin” in 2018, and in the film “Before You Know It” in the year that followed. He played starring roles in the films “Breakthrough” and “Black and Blue” both in 2019, and in the series “Evil” from 2019 – 2021. Most recently, he was seen in the film “Fitale” (2020), in which he appeared together with Michael Ealy and Hillary Swank, and in 2021’s film “South of Heaven.” He will be appearing in the movie “I’m Charlie Walker,” which will be released in 2022.
Social Media Presence
Colter has a massive following on several social media platforms; he has been reigning on Instagram for years, and is mostly seen posting his latest projects, selfies, and shots from performances. He is a prolific poster on Twitter too, and has gained many followers. In addition, he is active on Facebook, and is keen on sharing his hobbies and other day-to-day activities on his page.
Personal Life, Rumours and Controversies
When he was a postgraduate student at Rutgers University, NJ, Colter met with Iva Popovicova, a Netflix Executive who was then studying for her Ph.D. The couple dated for ten years before they tied the knot in 2016, and welcomed their first daughter, Naiella Colter, before the year ended and he broke the news to his fans during an appearance on talk “The Wendy Williams (talk) Show”.
Two years later, the couple was blessed with their second daughter.
Colter is actress Viola Davis’ second cousin. As of 2021, the family lives in Los Angeles, California.
Controversy
Colter suffered a controversy in 2018 when he made light of an incident that involved the American singer Ariana Grande through a tweet. Ariana had just finished performing at the funeral of the late artist Aretha Franklin, when the ceremony’s officiator, Bishop Charles Ellis put his arms around her as he was talking to her. A lot of people found the contact inappropriate since the bishop had touched her breast accidentally – he apologized to her.
The incident was captured on video, which soon afterward went viral and Colter retweeted it captioning it ‘Now THIS is how you shoot your shot! Zero FCKS!!’
Many people found the tweet offensive and didn’t take it as sarcasm as the actor intended them to. As a result, he deleted the tweet and made a public apology: ‘Hello all. I apologize about my tweet earlier. In no way do I condone any such behavior…It was intended to point out the absurdity of the act itself. Complete and biting sarcasm. I realized quickly that it was not taken as such.’ Nonetheless, Ariana didn’t make any comments after his apology despite the hashtag ‘#RespectAriana’ going viral on Twitter for several days.
On several occasions, Colter has been the subject of controversy because of his interracial marriage. During “The Wendy Williams Show” after he had announced the birth of his daughter, the host showed fans his wife’s picture, and they stopped cheering immediately when they saw it, and expressed disapproval because he had married a white woman.
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Later during another interview on “The Breakfast Club” radio show, Mike explained that he loved his wife wholeheartedly and that he does not treat people according to their races. Of course, no explanation is necessary, is it?
Height, Weight, and Physical Appearance
Mike is of black ethnicity, and has hazel eyes and dark hair, although he seems to be fond of shaving his head bald, ever since he was in high school. He is 6ft 3ins (1.90 m) tall and weighs approximately 205lbs (93kg) – his chest, waist and bicep sizes are 45, 36, and 16 inches respectively – the South Carolinian star wears shoe size 9.5 (US).
Net Worth
Since he began his acting career, Colter has featured in over 40 productions, which have increased his fame and net worth, accumulating around $2 million, according to credible sources.
