Anthony Mackie Movies
A Big Easy-born actor who honed his skills at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts before completing his education at Juillard, Anthony Mackie portrayed ill-fated rapper Tupac Shakur in a stage production of Up Against the Wind before taunting Detroit-based rapper Eminem as a member of the rival rhyming crew in the box-office hit 8 Mile. Subsequently appearing onscreen alongside some of the biggest names in the business, Mackie took the lead as a sperm-donating former biotech executive opposite Ellen Barkin and Ossie Davis in Spike Lee's She Hate Me, and proved that he could even hold his own against such screen legends as Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman with a substantial role in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby. While it may be on the silver screen that Mackie has courted the majority of fame, the ascending star also appeared on the Broadway stage in high-profile productions of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Drowning Crow.Few actors could dream of a career that advanced as quickly as Mackie's did, and the same year he played leading man in She Hate Me, the then-twenty-five-year-old would earn an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his memorable portrayal of a homeless shelter employee struggling with his cultural and sexual identity in Brother to Brother. Just when it seemed as if Mackie's rigorous work schedule couldn't get any more demanding, the actor would appear in no less than six movies in 2006 including the racially charged kidnapping drama Freedomland, the underground street-ball drama Crossover, and opposite Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox in the fact-based football film We Are Marshall. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Controversial rap star Eminem makes his acting debut in this hard-edged urban drama, inspired in part by incidents from the musician's own life. Jimmy Smith (Eminem), known to his friends as Rabbit, is a young man trying to make his way out of the burned-out shell of inner-city Detroit. Rabbit's entire life has been a hard climb, and it certainly hasn't gotten any easier lately; Rabbit has just been dumped by his girlfriend, forcing him to move back in with his emotionally unstable mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), and he's getting along especially poorly with Stephanie's new boyfriend. Rabbit has a factory job that's tough, demeaning, and doesn't pay especially well, and he's convinced his skills as a rapper are his only real hope at a better life. Rabbit makes music with a crew of DJ's and MC's who call themselves Three One Third, among them his close friend Future (Mekhi Phifer), but his status as a white kid making music in a predominantly African-American community and culture is extremely intimidating, and after Rabbit freezes up in the midst of an MC battle, he's convinced he's missed his chance and that he's doomed to lead a marginal life as a factory rat for the rest of his days. With the help of his friends, and his new girlfriend Alex (Brittany Murphy), Rabbit struggles to work up the courage and the confidence to take one more shot at making his dream a reality. 8 Mile was shot on location in Detroit; the name refers to 8 Mile Road, a thoroughfare along the city's perimeter which effectively separates the middle-class suburban neighborhoods from the lower-class inner-city. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eminem, Kim Basinger, (more)
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