Short T’s 2016 Most Anticipated Actors & Actresses List

I’m putting these last two entertainers together just because they both were in biopics based on Olympic athletes in theaters this February. I’m sad to report that Race, the Jesse Owens biopic, barely reaches the minimum requirement to feature a historical figure in the main role enough to be declared a biopic. While Eddie The Eagle masterfully told the life story about an 80’s athlete that was nowhere near my Black millennial mind. While Stephen James’s screen time was minimized, he performed exceptionally and made me sure to check for his name instead of just labeling him the guy that played John Lewis in Selma.

I’m going to believe that James’s list of future projects is light because he hasn’t proven himself as a leading man yet unlike Taron Egerton, who proved himself as a leading man and box office winner in the sensational Kingsman: The Secret Service. It was Candice Frederick of the Cinema In Noir podcast that explained how an unknown Black actor was able to get the lead role in a major studio motion picture: Barely feature that actor in the film and have a white person save him at every dramatic moment.

Taron Egerton