Michael B. Jordan Reveals How Sharing His Name With a Basketball Legend Almost Led Him To Change It

Michael B. Jordan is opening up about a surprisingly painful chapter from his childhood, and how it ultimately helped shape his drive for success.

In an interview that aired Sunday, January 4, on CBS Sunday Morning, the Sinners star, 38, told correspondent Tracy Smith that growing up with the same name as basketball icon Michael Jordan wasn’t a source of pride at first — it was a burden.

“Big time,” Michael B. said when asked if the name caused problems. “I got teased so much, to the point where I almost changed my name.” The actor explained that he once considered going by his middle name, Bakari, just to carve out his own identity.

“It definitely made me want to be competitive,” he said, adding that the pressure pushed him to be great at something — really, anything — so he could stand on his own.”

Looking back now, however, Michael B. sees things differently. He said sharing the name with a global sports legend became “part of the alchemy that made me who I am today.”

Smith noted that Bakari means “noble promise” in Swahili, and asked if he feels he’s living up to it. “I feel like I’m walking in that,” Michael B. replied. “We’re just getting started.”

Named after his father, Michael A. Jordan, the actor began his career as a child model before breaking out on The Wire, Friday Night Lights, and later starring in Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Sinners proving he more than made the name his own.

He doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In a November interview with Variety, the hunky actor hinted he is currently working on Creed IV and a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.