27 Young Black Male Actors Under 30, All Super Talented

When you think of your favorite Black actors, it is easy to think of the ones who have been established and prominent for decades. But what about those young black male actors under 30?

There are so many Black men making their mark on the entertainment industry. Young Black men are doing everything from playing superheroes, to teachers, to historical figures. Check out this list of young Black actors who are making a mark on film and television.

1. Abraham Attah   

Abraham Attah was born on July 2, 2001, in Ghana. He is best known for his role as Agu in Beasts of No Nation, Abe in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Mebro in Out of the Village, and Dayo Ayodele in Tazmanian Devil. He received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival for his role in Beasts of No Nation.

2. Algee Smith

Algee Smith was born on November 7, 1994, in Michigan. He is known for his roles as Larry in Detroit, Jake Winters in Judas and the Black Messiah, Khalil in The Hate You Give, Sam in Mother/Android, and McKay in Euphoria. Besides acting, Smith also sings and raps.      

3. Asante Blackk     

Asante Blackk was born on October 20, 2001, in Maryland. While born with the name Asante Duah Ma’at, he uses Asante Blackk as his professional name.

He is primarily known for his roles as Kevin Richardson in When They See Us, Malik Hodges in This Is Us, and Michael Evans in Live in Front of a Studio Audience. He was nominated for several awards, including an Emmy, Critics Choice Television Awards, and some Black Reel Television Awards.    

4. Aubrey Joseph   

Aubrey Joseph was born on November 26, 1997, in New York. He is primarily known for his role as Tyrone Powers or Cloak in Cloak & Dagger. His career started on Broadway, where he played Simba in The Lion King. He also played Warren Wright in Little Fires Everywhere.

5. Bryshere ‘Yazz’ Gray  

Bryshere ‘Yazz’ Gray was born on November 28, 1993, in Pennsylvania. He is also known as Yazz the Greatest and Yazz. He is mostly known for his role as Hakeem Lyon in Empire and as Michael Bivins in The New Edition Story. Besides acting, Gray also raps.

6. Caleb Reginald McLaughlin

Caleb Reginald McLaughlin is a black man born on October 13, 2001, in New York. His biggest role so far is as Lucas Sinclair in Stranger Things. He also played Young Simba in the Broadway musical, The Lion King and Cole in Concrete Cowboy. Before getting his big break with Stranger Things, Mclaughlin was also in several TV shows.    

7. Chosen Jacobs  

Chosen Jacobs was born on July 1, 2001, in Massachusetts. He is primarily known for his roles as Will Grover in Hawaii Five-) and Mike Hanlon in It and It: Chapter Two. He also starred in Sneakerella and had roles in American Woman, Castle Rock, and When the Streetlights Go On.     

8. Chris O’Neal       

Chris O’Neal was born on April 4, 1994, in New York. He first became known for his role as Kevin Reed in How to Rock. He is also known as Ben Dupree in Swindle, Dwayne in Colin in Black & White, Daniel Hayward in Greenhouse Academy, and Bam in 5th Ward. An upcoming role is Lonnie in AMP House.            

9. Coy Stewart, A Black Male Actor Under 30

Coy Stewart was born on June 24, 1998, in South Carolina. Some of his most known roles include Flint in Agents of Shield, Lorenzo in Mr. Iglesias, Kevin Kingston-Persons in Are We There Yet? He also had roles as Marcus in The Electric Company and Troy in Bella and the Bulldogs. In addition to acting, Stewart also raps and sings.

10. Jacob Latimore 

Young black man Jacob Latimore was born on August 10, 1996, in Wisconsin. He is known for his roles as Jeff in Maze Runner, Fried Temple in Detroit, Bennett Russell in Candy Jar, Dante Spivey in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Emmett in The Chi. Latimore is also a musician. He released his debut album, Connection, in 2016 and two more albums in the following years.    

11. Jaden Smith     

Jaden Smith was born on July 8, 1998, in California. Smith is known for his Roles as Christopher Gardener Jr. in The Pursuit of Happyness, Dre Parker in The Karate Kid, Kitai Raige in After Earth, Daryn in Life in a Year, and the voice of Kaz Kaan in Neo Yokio.

Besides acting, Smith also sings, acts, designs clothes, and participates in other forms of business. So far, he has released three albums. Smith is also known as the child of Will and Jada-Pinkett Smith.   

12. Jahi Di’Allo

Jahi Di’Allo was born on November 30, 2003, in Georgia. Di’Allo is also sometimes known as Jahi Winston. He is known for his roles as Junior in Queen & Slim, Geronimo in The Dead Don’t Die, Anthony in The Upside, and Mouse in Charm City Kings. He will soon appear in We Have a Ghost and Free to Fall.          

13. Jharrel Jerome 

Jharrel Jerome was born on October 9, 1997, in New York. He is most well known for his role of Teen Kevin in Moonlight, Smush in Concrete Cowboy, Korey Wise in When They See Us, and Jerome Robinson in Mr. Mercedes. Jerome is also a rapper, and he released his first song in 2020.  

14. Justice Smith    

Justice Smith was born on August 9, 1995, in California. He first rose to prominence in the role of Ezekiel Figuero in The Get Down. Smith is known for playing Marcus “Radar” Lincoln in Paper Towns, Franklin Webb in the Jurassic World franchise, Thomas in The Voyeurs, and Tim Goodman in Pokemon Detective Pikachu. He also appeared in several theater productions, including Yen and The Mother.            

15. Keith Powers    

Keith Powers was born on August 22, 1992, in California. He is primarily known for his role as Tyree in Straight Outta Compton and Ronnie DeVoe in The New Edition Story.

He also played Quentin in House Party: Tonight’s the Night, Patrick in Before I Fall, Cameron Drake in Reality High, Special Agent Vance in Maximum Impact, Major Greenwood in The Tomorrow War, LaDarius Pope in Sin City Saints, Jordan Wilder in Famous in Love, and Todd Archer in What/If.       

16. Khylin Rhambo 

Khylin Rhambo was born on January 8, 1996, in California. He is known for playing Dirk Meeker in Ender’s Game, Carl in 47 Meters Down Uncaged, James in Just Say When, Charles Johnson in The First Family, and Mason Hewitt in Teen Wolf. He is currently working on Don’t Log Off, in which he plays Brian, and Teen Wolf: The Movie, in which he reprises his role of Mason Hewitt.     

17. Kofi Siriboe       

Kofi Siriboe was born on March 2, 1994, in California. Siriboe plays Ralph Angel Bordelon in Queen Sugar, Tyler Miller in Awkward, Crenshawn in Insecure, Malik in Girls Trip, and Block Dude in Straight Outta Compton. Javy Hall in The Longshots, and Isaiah in Really Love. He has been nominated for four NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. He was also nominated for four Black Reel Awards for Television.           

18. Leon Thomas III

Leon Thomas III was born on August 1, 1993, in New York. While he is an actor, he is also quite well known for his songwriting, singing, and record production. He contributed to several Grammy Award-winning albums and songs.

As a child, he played Young Simba in the Broadway productions of The Lion King and The Color Purple. He played Andre Harris in Victorious, Mateo in Satisfaction, and Eddie in Insecure.           

19. Marcus Scribner

Marcus Scribner was born on January 7, 2000, in California. His most prominent role is Andre Johnson Jr in Black-ish, Grown-ish, and Mixed-ish. He is also known as the voice of the character Bow in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Alex in Ron’s Gone Wrong, Wallace in Along for the Ride, and D’Angelo Baker in Dragons: The Nine Realms.    

20. Ncuti Gatwa      

Ncuti Gatwa was born on October 15, 1992 in Rawanda. When Gatwa was a young child, he and his family fled the Rwandan genocide and started living in Scotland. He is known for the role of Eric Effiong in Sex Education and Nick in The Last Letter from Your Lover.

Gatwa is also known for his robust theater career. In 2022 it was announced that Gatwa would take on the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who.   

21. Rhenzy Feliz    

Rhenzy Feliz was born on October 26, 1997, in New York. Feliz is best known for playing Alex Wilder in Runaways and Camilo Madrigal in Encanto. He also appeared as Aaron in Teen Wolf, Spencer in Casual, Marc in Kevin (Probably) Saves the World), Chad in American Horror Stories, Ty in All Together Now, Wesley in The Tender Bar, and Bonaparte in Girl With no Name. Feliz sings in addition to acting.  

22. Shameik Moore

Shameik Moore was born on May 4, 1995, in Georgia. Moore is known as the voice of Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. He is also known for playing Malcolm in Dope, Raekwon in Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Stuart in Let It Snow, and Shaolin Fantastic in The Get Down. Besides acting, Moore also dances, sings, and raps.           

23. Stephan James

Stephan James was born on December 16, 1993, in Ontario, Canada. He is known for his portrayal of Jesse Owens in Race, Walter Cruz in Homecoming, John Lewis in Selma, Alfonzo “Fonny” Hunt in If Beale Street Could Talk, and Michael Trujillo in 21 Bridges.

James won several awards, including a Black Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble in Selma, A Canadian Screen Award for Lead Actor in Race, and a Women Film Critics Circle Best Screen Couple award for If Beale Street Could Talk.

24. Tequan Richmond    

Tequan Richmond was born on October 30, 1992, in North Carolina. He is known for his role as Drew Rock in Everybody Hates Chris. He also portrayed Ray Charles Jr. in Ray, TJ Ashford in General Hospital, Christian Fulner in All Night, Bryson in Boomerang, and David in Nowhere, Michigan. Richmond also performs music as T-Rich.

25. Trevor Jackson 

Trevor Jackson was born on August 30, 1996, in Indiana. As a young child, he played the role of Young Simba in The Lion King on Broadway.

He is known for his role as Aaron Jackson in Grown-ish, Kevin Blake in Eureka, Kris McDuffy in Let It Shine, and Kevin LaCroix in American Crime. Jackson also performs music. He has three studio albums, an extended play, a mixed tape, and twenty singles.    

26. Tyler James Williams

Tyler James Williams was born on October 9, 1992, in New York. He became well known when he played Chris in Everybody Hates Chris.

Williams also played Noah in The Walking Dead, Lionel Higgens in Dear White People, Jake Riddick in The Wedding Year, Paul in The Argument, and Lester “Prez” Young in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. He is currently acclaimed for his role as Gregory Eddie in Abbott Elementary.

27. Tyrel Jackson Williams     

Tyrel Jackson Williams was born on March 16, 1997, in New York. He is known for his roles as Charles in Brockmire, Jessie in Thunder Force, and Terrell in Hollywood Stargirl. So far in his career, he appeared in Modern Family, Community, Good Luck Charlie, Pair of Kings, and Lab Rats. He also played the younger version of his brother’s character in Everybody Hates Chris.         

Top Young Black Male Actors Under 30, Final Thoughts

These young black male actors under 30 may be young, but they have already accomplished a lot, and there are countless more things for them to accomplish. From acting to music to fashion design and social justice, the young Black men on this list are extremely talented.

The men on this list work in every genre you could think of. So, check out the existing performances from these men, and look out for their upcoming career development.