Mustafa Shakir (born August 21, 1976) is an American actor known for his portrayal as Bushmaster in '' Marvel's Luke Cage'', Big Mike in ''The Deuce'' and Jet Black in ''Cowboy Bebop'' (2021).

Biography and career

Shakir was born in North Carolina and grew up in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. He attended

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

and graduated in 2001. Before acting, Shakir was a barber. Shakir earned one of the lead roles in the short lived ''

Quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

'' and made a guest appearance on '' Timeless''. He had previously auditioned for the roles of Black Lightning in the eponymous television show and M'Baku in ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

'', but failed to acquire either role. He was cast as John McIver/Bushmaster in the second season of '' Luke Cage''. In 2021 he starred in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

live-action adaptation of ''

Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...

'' as Jet Black which was cancelled after one season. Shakir is a strict

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shakir, Mustafa 1976 births 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from Manhattan People from Harlem The New School alumni