Who would have thought this would be the trajectory of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, when, a decade earlier, he was studying architecture at Berkeley? Probably not even him. He decided to get into acting classes to get an easy credit, and he never stopped. He appeared on the acting scene with a small yet powerful performance in the 2017 film Sidney Hall. Since then, his career has always been going up. That same year, he was part of Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down, and was getting supporting roles in movies where he got to work with Hugh Jackman, Elizabeth Moss, and Dwayne Johnson, appearing in blockbusters, small character dramas, and interesting TV series, and always stealing the scenes he appeared in.
In the last few years, he has become a great supporting actor in superhero films; he’s had a surprising supporting role in a TV series that got him his first Emmy win, acted alongside some interesting actors like Jake Gyllenhaal, and became the lead of a horror film. Here are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s 10 best performances, ranked.
10 Black Mirror (2011 – Present)
Black Mirror has been telling scary, unique, satirical, and creative technological stories for more than a decade. What started as a three-episode series in the UK, has become one of Netflix’s biggest projects, one that famous actors want to be part of. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II appears in one of the latest season’s episodes, “Striking Vipers”, where he plays Karl Houghton, someone who reconnects with an old friend (Anthony Mackie) through playing a virtual reality game together.
As always in this franchise, the reality game ends up changing the characters’ offline lives. This episode is a two-hander, and allows Abdul-Mateen II to show his skills, as he’s able to go toe-to-toe with Mackie, making for a very interesting episode where both actors are at the top of their games.
9 First Match (2018)
First Match is the story of Monique (Elvire Emanuelle), a teenager who has had a tough life after spending years in foster care, even if she has a father (Abdul-Mateen II). To both spurn him and get his attention, she decides to join an all-boys wrestling team, as he was a wrestling champion in his youth. This story about fathers and daughters has many good things going for it; a sports underdog story, some great wrestling matches, and two great performances at the center of it.
Both Emanuelle and Abdul-Mateen II make their characters real, vulnerable, raw, sad, complicated, and tough, making for a great film, as we understand where both are coming from, and that they might be much more alike than any of them think.
8 Aquaman (2018)
Aquaman tells the origin story of Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), as he must become the king of the underwater world. James Wan’s direction made for a very entertaining film, moving from genre to genre, from adventure to horror, and from comedy to action, and making it all fit seamlessly. Abdul-Mateen II played Black Manta, one of Aquaman’s biggest enemies, and it also showed his own origin story.
In this version, Black Manta starts as a modern pirate whose father dies after an encounter with Aquaman, so he creates the character with some Atlantean tech with only one thing in mind: avenge his father. The character and the actor’s performance popped so much, that the sequel will continue his story, making him Aquaman’s biggest enemy in the new film.
7 The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The Matrix Resurrections is a continuation of Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) story, as he’s back in the Matrix, as Thomas Anderson, making a video game of his ideas (or are they his memories?) of Neo. When Bugs (Jessica Henwick) helps him, he starts to remember who he really is. Abdul-Mateen II has an incredible performance as Morpheus (played in the original trilogy by Laurence Fishburne), making this new version both a good homage to the old one, and a completely new thing that is, as always, trying to help Neo discover his better self.
About the character, Abdul-Mateen II told Entertainment Weekly: “I looked at that as an opportunity to create a character with some freedom and expression and to really find out what it was that I, as Morpheus, liked about myself and what I had to contribute to the world and what I had to say in this universe. That was something that I really enjoyed.”
6 The Get Down (2016-2017)
The Get Down was one of Netflix’s first original series, executive produced by the one and only Baz Luhrmann, and told the rise of both disco and hip-hop in 1970s New York. The show had great musical performances, and a young cast that hasn’t stopped working since; from Justice Smith (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) to Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Herizen F. Guardiola (Dare Me), and Abdul-Mateen II.
The actor plays Cadillac, the villain in the show, who has a disco club (and loves to dance to that kind of music), while also being one of the biggest dope sellers in the city. Abdul-Mateen II sells both the dangerous parts of his character, but also the most ridiculous, as his love for disco is as big as his love for making money and being the king of the underworld, while also being emasculated by his most business-savvy mother. All those traits make Cadillac a one-of-a-kind villain, one that is much more fake bravado, and neediness than real evil.
5 Ambulance (2022)
Ambulance is Michael Bay’s latest film, one that mixes all his action prowess with a relatively more down-to-earth story (with no robots that can become cars), following the ideas that made him famous back in the Bad Boys’ days. This is the story of the Sharp brothers, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal at his most unhinged), and Will (Abdul-Mateen II), who, after a robbery gone wrong, steal an ambulance, so they can disappear.
Although Gyllenhaal is the one giving the flashy performance, the movie wouldn’t work without Abdul-Mateen II, who is the moral center and hero of the story. The actor is able to sell both the horror he’s feeling for being in this situation he never wanted to be in, while also selling the loyalty he feels for his brother, making for an interesting character who must do some things he doesn’t want, to survive and help his sick wife.
4 The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the most recent Aaron Sorkin project, one that tells the real-life story of a trial in Chicago about the people who allegedly incited a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. As with any Sorkin-written project, the film has great dialogue, some idealism, and a tough look at corruption, with an incredible cast; with Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, Michael Keaton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Abdul-Mateen II. The actor plays the real person, Bobby Seale, one of the members of the Chicago Black Panthers, and his scenes are the toughest to watch, as the racism he faces is on display in every second he’s on trial.
On why he played the role, Abdul-Mateen II told Screen Rant: “Supernatural heroes and gods and inspirational figures are very, very important, but I don’t think any of them to this day can hold a candle to the importance that I’ve felt when stepping into the shoes of Bobby Seale.”
3 Candyman (2021)
Candyman is a sequel film of the same name to the horror film made in 1992. Like the original, the movie uses the genre to give an important social commentary about the Black experience. This sequel, directed by Nia DaCosta and with Jordan Peele as one of her screenwriters, uses a bit more satire than the original, but still follows through on the urban legend of Candyman, a horror figure that appears when you mention him in the mirror five times.
This is Abdul-Mateen II’s film, as he’s the lead character and the audience’s point of view. He plays Anthony McCoy, an artist who becomes obsessed with the mythological figure after visiting the Cabrini-Green projects, gets inspired by the story, and creates some successful paintings.
When the people who attended the show start dying, and he gets a bee sting on his hand that never improves, he starts worrying about the fact that the urban legend might be real. This was the actor’s first lead role, and he proves why he deserved the opportunity, as he’s a great anchor for the audience to follow as all the horror happens to him, and around him.
2 Us (2019)
Jordan Peele’s Us has become one of the best horror movies of the 2010s. The director knows how to do sinister and unsettling like no other, and this film has it in spades. This is the story of Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o proving once again that she’s a great actress, and that Hollywood should use her more), who, as a child, attended a carnival and met her doppelgänger. When she goes back to the area with her kids and husband many years later, those doppelgängers are much stronger, and are trying to become the only version of themselves alive.
Abdul-Mateen II plays Adelaide’s father in the flashback that starts the film. Although it’s a small role, it shows how ascendant his career is getting, as even if the role isn’t that big, great directors want to work with him, because he can create a fully realized character in just a few minutes.
1 Watchmen (2019)
Watchmen was an incredible graphic novel made by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins in 1986. In 2009, Zack Snyder adapted it into a film, and 10 years later, Damon Lindelof (of Lost fame) did a continuation for HBO. The Watchmen TV series deconstructed the superhero genre, while following Angela Abar (Regina King), aka Sister Night, a police officer who spends her nights as a vigilante.
Yaya Abdul-Mateen II plays her husband, Cal, who, in the second part of the season, shows his true identity, playing all the notes that made Doctor Manhattan such a unique character in the comics. He becomes pragmatic, enigmatic, and almost without feelings, and yet he’s still able to show how much he loves Angela, and their family, creating a performance like no other.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
