50 facts about Anthony Mackie: was classically trained at the Julliard School of Drama

50 facts you didn't know about actor Anthony Mackie.

1. Anthony Mackie was classically trained at the Julliard School of Drama.

2. Mackie was discovered after receiving rave reviews while playing Tupac Shakur in the off Broadway "Up Against the Wind".

3. Mackie made an auspicious film debut as Eminem's nemesis, Papa Doc, in Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile."

4. His performance caught the attention of Spike Lee, who subsequently cast Mackie in the 2004 Toronto Film Festival Masters Program selection "Sucker Free City" and "She Hate Me."

5. He also appeared in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning "Million Dollar Baby," opposite Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Eastwood.

6. He also appeared in Jonathan Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate," alongside Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber, and the comedy "The Man," starring Samuel L. Jackson.

7. Mackie earned IFP Spirit and Gotham Award nominations for his performance in Rodney Evans' "Brother to Brother," which won the 2004 Special Dramatic Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.

8. In 2005, he appeared opposite David Strathairn, Timothy Hutton and Leelee Sobieski in "Heavens Fall," based on the historic Scottsboro Boys' trials, an independent feature that premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival in Austin.

9. Mackie also had five features on movie screens in 2006.

10. In addition to "We Are Marshall," he starred in "Half Nelson," with Ryan Gosling, adapted from director Ryan Fleck's Sundance-winning short "Gowanus Brooklyn"; in Preston Whitmore's "Crossover"; in Frank E. Flowers ensemble crime drama "Haven," opposite Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton; and in the film adaptation of Richard Price's "Freedomland," starring Samuel L. Jackson.

11. Intertwined throughout his film career, Mackie was seen in several theatrical performances both on and off Broadway.

12. Mackie made his Broadway debut as the stuttering nephew, Sylvester, alongside Whoopi Goldberg in August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom".

13. Next he was seen as the lead in Regina King's modern retelling of Chekov's "The Seagull," starred in Stephen Belber's "McReele" for the Rounabout Theatre Company, and starred in the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Soldier's Play" as a character made famous by Denzel Washington 20 years prior.

14. Most recently, Mackie was part of the production of August Wilson's 20th Century at the esteemed Kennedy Center where they performed stage readings of all 10 plays in August Wilson's cycle. Mackie participated in 3 of the 10 shows and hopes to return to the stage soon.

15. Most recently, Mackie was seen as Tupac Shakur in the Fox Searchlight biopic "Notorious," the story of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G directed by George Tillman Jr. and starring Jamal Woolard in the title role.

16. Mackie was also seen in Dreamworks film "Eagle Eye," starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, and Billy Bob Thornton.

17. Next up, he tackled a couple more biopics with "Bolden!," an account of the great New Orleans cornet player Buddy Bolden and "Jesse Owens," a feature based on the late-great Olympic star.

18. His full name is Anthony D. Mackie.

19. He has been featured in feature films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play.

20. For his appearnce in Carl Hancock Rux's Talk, he won an Obie Award in 2002.

21. In 2002, he was featured in Eminem's debut film, 8 Mile.

22. He was nominated for Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his role in Brother to Brother.

23. His second nomination was for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards for his role in The Hurt Locker.

24. In 2014, he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sam Wilson / Falcon, making his first appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

25. Mackie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

26. He is the son of Martha and Willie Mackie, Sr., a carpenter who owned a roofing business, Mackie Roofing.

27. He attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).

28. He has a brother, Calvin Macki.

29. Graduated from the high school drama program at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) in 1997.

30. He later graduated from the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997-2001), which also included actors Tracie Thoms and Lee Pace.

31. Mackie and his longtime girlfriend Sheletta Chapital married in December 2014.

32. They also have two sons together.

33. He opened a bar called NoBar in Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 2011.

34. His brother, Calvin Mackie, was an Associate Professor at Tulane University.

35. His first starring role in a feature film was in the 2003 independent film Brother to Brother.

36. Mackie would later go on to star as a man who struggles to adjust to the world he's created after becoming a corporate whistleblower and later starting a business impregnating lesbians for a fee in Spike Lee's 2004 film She Hate Me.

37. In March 2008, Mackie starred in three plays by playwright August Wilson at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and Jitney - all part of "August Wilson's 20th Century", a month-long presentation of ten staged readings of Wilson's "Century Cycle".

38. Mackie has participated several times in the "24-Hour Plays" held in New York City each fall.

39. Mackie portrayed the rapper Tupac Shakur in the 2009 film Notorious.

40. He first played Shakur on Off-Off Broadway while still at Juilliard in 2001 in the play Up Against the Wind, which also featured his classmate Thoms.

41. In the summer of 2009, he played the role of Pentheus in the New York City Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of The Bacchae.

42. He starred with Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway, which opened February 15, 2010.

43. Mackie also narrated The Best That Never Was, director Jonathan Hock's documentary for the ESPN 30 for 30 series about the Philadelphia, MS native and football star Marcus Dupree.

44. He appeared in the 2011 Matt Damon film The Adjustment Bureau where he plays Harry Mitchell, a sympathetic member of a shadowy supernatural group that controls human destiny.

45. Mackie co-starred, as the Falcon, in the Marvel Studios sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

46. He reprised the role in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.

47. He also appeared in Ant-Man.

48. He will star in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.

49. He planned to be an engineer before choosing acting career.

50. He enjoys skydiving.

Source: facebook.com/OfficialAnthonyMackiePage, Wikipedia.org