ANTHONY MACKIE D.O.B.  23 September 1979, New Orleans, LA   EDUCATION: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, North Carolina School of the Arts, The Julliard School

A little more love never hurt anyone, right? I was debating whether to put the ‘spotlight’ on Mr. Mackie, as his career now seems to gaining a little more steam in recent years several years of treading the boards.

A star of stage and screen, the Julliard-trained Anthony Mackie‘s feature film début was in 2002 in the Eminem project 8 Mile, followed by a lead role in the 2003 independent film Brother to Brother; for the latter role he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for ‘Best Debut Performance.’

He first caught my notice in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me (2004), in which he played a man who resorts to an unconventional means of generating income. According to his CV, also in 2004, Mackie had small roles in Jonathan Demme’s remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.

2005 saw only one film credit – the forgettable teaming of Samuel L Jackson and Eugene Levy in The Man.

The following year notable roles included appearances in We Are Marshall and the critically acclaimed Half-Nelson, co-starring Ryan Gosling.

Over the past 5 years, his roles have increased not only in frequency but also profile: Eagle Eye, best-picture of 2009 The Hurt Locker, Notorious [the biopic Notorious, playing rapper Tupac Shakur], The Adjustment Bureau (with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt), Real Steel (with Hugh Jackson) and the comedy What’s Your Number?.

I wanted to highlight one release during this period: in 2010, he starred in the drama set in the 1970’s Night Catches Us, which also stars Kerry Washington. But by briefly reading the synopsis, it looks kind of interesting.

This year, he already has one film in release (Man on a Ledge), one film in the can (the lead in Bolden!, based on the life of New Orleans cornetist and jazz musician Buddy Bolden), and two more on the horizon – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and The Gangster Squad, co-starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin.

Phew! In putting this list together, I see that it is quite impressive – Mr. Mackie sure has crafted a very diverse career for himself – and I have not even mentioned the stage work!

I guess the next step is a few more standout lead roles. If Bolden! or any of these 2012 releases prove very successful, that may very well be what puts him over the top.