Mike Colter

Mike Colter is an American actor widely recognized for his portrayal of Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe starting in 2015. His career includes prominent roles across major television series, feature films, and video games. In addition to his superhero portrayals, he is well known for starring in the supernatural drama series Evil and playing recurring characters in high-profile legal dramas.

Colter was born on August 26, 1976. He graduated from Calhoun County High School, where his classmates voted him as the "most ambitious" senior. He initially attended Benedict College for a year before transferring to the University of South Carolina, earning a bachelor's degree in theater in 1999. He subsequently completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Colter made his cinematic debut as the boxer Big Willie Little in the film Million Dollar Baby. His early television career included guest roles on series such as Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, ER, and The Parkers, alongside multiple television films. He went on to play Malcolm Ward in the series Ringer from 2011 to 2012, and portrayed Lemond Bishop in The Good Wife from 2010 to 2015, a role he reprised in The Good Fight between 2018 and 2019. In 2012, he appeared as the father of Agent J in Men in Black 3.

In 2014, Colter joined the Halo franchise as Agent Jameson Locke, starring in the digital series Halo: Nightfall and performing motion capture for the character in Halo 5: Guardians, where Ike Amadi provided the voice. He achieved wider recognition playing Luke Cage, also named Carl Lucas, debuting on Netflix's Jessica Jones in November 2015. He went on to headline the standalone series Luke Cage, which premiered its first season in September 2016 and its second in June 2018, while also appearing in the ensemble miniseries The Defenders.

Colter continued expanding his film and television credits with the 2018 alien invasion movie Extinction and the 2020 Netflix anthology series Social Distance. From 2019 to 2024, he starred as David Acosta, a Catholic seminarian analyzing mysterious events, in the series Evil. In 2023, he co-starred opposite Gerard Butler in the Lionsgate Play feature Plane; a planned sequel titled Ship was canceled before filming began.

Colter reprised his role as Luke Cage in the season two finale of Marvel's Daredevil: Born Again and is set to return for its third season. In his personal life, he met his wife, Iva, while studying at Rutgers University. Married in 2002, the couple has two daughters and lives in Los Angeles. Colter is a second cousin of actress Viola Davis, and in 2019 he played in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Charlotte, North Carolina.