LaKeith Stanfield Biography

LaKeith Stanfield was born in San Bernardino, California and raised in nearby Victorville.

At 14, he joined the school drama club and decided that he wanted to be an actor. By the time he was 15, LaKeith joined the John Casablancas Modeling and Acting Agency and was sent out on commercial auditions. At first, he didn't land anything and grew discouraged, but in 2009 he landed a role in a short film titled Short Term 12, which would lead to greater things. When the short was made into a feature in 2013, director Destin Daniel Cretton asked LaKeith to recreate his role in the film, which also starred Brie Larson. LaKeith earned two Black Reel nominations for his performance, which included a scene in which he raps a song he wrote with the director, Cretton. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2014 Satellite Awards.

LaKeith has not stopped working since, with roles in films such as the Oscar-winning film Selmastarring David Oyelowo, in which Lakeith played the pivotal role of Jimmie Lee Jackson.

The following year he played Snoop in the Oscar-nominated film Straight Outta Compton(2015). That same year, he won Best Actor at the 24fps International Short Film Festival for his starring role in the short film Tracks (2015).

In 2015, LaKeith was cast in the starring role of Darius on the FX series Atlanta, about two aspiring rappers. In 2017 the series won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy and LaKeith won a 2017 Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy Series. LaKeith , who is a rapper himself, is one-half of the rap duo, Moors, alongside Los Angeles-based producer HH (real name Hrishikesh Hirway), whom he met while filming Short Term 12.

In 2016, LaKeith played Patrick Haynes in Snowden, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, then in 2017, he played the challenging role of Andre Logan King in the phenomenal hit film Get Out. His character is kidnapped, then undergoes a personality change by the time Chris (Daniel Kaluyya) meets him. The role was a small one, but crucial and LaKeith was extremely memorable. He shared a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with his fellow actors.

He also landed the starring role of Darius in the FX series Atlanta, alongside Donald Glover and Brian Tyree Henry, which ran four seasons from 2016 to 2022.

In his next film, Crown Heights (2017), LaKeith played the starring role of Colin Warner, a man from Brooklyn who was wrongfully convicted of a crime in the 1980s and then spent two decades trying to clear his name. For his work in the film, LaKeith won a 2017 Breakout Performance award from the African-American Film Critics Association.

LaKeith also stars in Sorry to Bother You (2018), a surreal look at the life of a very successful telemarketer named Cassius Green (played by LaKeith). In 2019, Lakeith had a busy year. He starred in the Oscar-nominated films Knives Out and Uncut Gems. He also starred in the Netflix rom-com Someone Great.

In 2020, he played a starring role in the romance/drama Photograph, alongside Issa Rae. He then starred in the critically acclaimed film, Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). The film earned him an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor.

He went on to star in the BAFTA award-winning cowboy film The Harder They Fall (2021), and Disney's Haunted Mansion (2023). His first film of 2024 is The Book of Clarence (2024), set in Biblical times.

LaKeith and his girlfriend, actress Xosha Roquemore, have been dating since early 2015 and have a child together, born in June 2017.

Filmography:
The Book of Clarence (2024)
Haunted Mansion (2023)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Photograph (2020)
Someone Great (2019)
Uncut Gems (2019)
Knives Out (2019)
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Death Note (Netflix)
Get Out (2017)
War Machine (Netflix)
Miles Ahead (2016)
Snowden (2016)
Dope (2015)
Memoria (2015)
Selma (2015)
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
Short Term 12 (2013)