Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (born 1987) is an American actor, best known for his role Cadillac in the television series The Get Down. He also starred in Baywatch and The Greatest Showman (both 2017), and will portray the villain Black Manta in DC's Aquaman (2018).

Early life
Abdul-Mateen was born in 1987 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He spent his childhood in the Magnolia Projects, New Orleans, and then moved to Oakland, California. He graduated in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and then worked as a city planner in San Francisco. He always wanted to be an actor, so later he got his degree in Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama and worked at stage in some theaters.

Career
In 2016, Abdul-Mateen began his career with the Baz Luhrmann's musical drama series The Get Down, which premiered on Netflix. His character Clarence "Cadillac" Caldwell is a prince of the disco world. He was praised for his role in the series.

In 2017, Abdul-Mateen appeared in Shawn Christensen's drama film The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, in the role of Duane. It premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Abdul-Mateen played a police officer, Garner Ellerbee, in the action comedy film Baywatch along with Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, and directed by Seth Gordon. The film was released on May 25, 2017. He also played WD Wheeler, a smart hand-to-hand acrobat partner, in the musical film The Greatest Showman (2017), along with Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, and Zac Efron, about the famous American showman P.T. Barnum.

He will also star in the road trip drama film Boundaries, along with Vera Farmiga and Christopher Plummer, directed and written by Shana Feste. In January 2017, Abdul-Mateen was cast as the DC Comics villain Black Manta in the film Aquaman, which started shooting in May in Australia.