Michael B. Jordan’s Career Began On An Acclaimed HBO Show (And It’s Not The Wire)

Apparently, Michael B. Jordan has had a keen eye for critically acclaimed projects since he was a child. He appeared in his first crime drama masterpiece when he was roughly 12 years old, and no, it wasn’t “The Wire.”

Jordan played a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role as a bully in “The Sopranos” Season 1 from 1999 — which means he was in two of the best HBO shows of all time before he was old enough to drive. He showed up in an Episode 7 flashback to Tony Soprano’s (James Gandolfini) childhood.

“I was just one of the extras, one of the background kids. I think I might’ve snuck in a couple of lines,” Jordan recalled to Vanity Fair. “I was bullying Tony during one of his therapy sessions, and it was the flashback. He was talking about his childhood and how he used to get bullied on the boardwalk, and I was one of those bullies.”

Michael B. Jordan didn’t recognize the importance of “The Sopranos” at the time, which is understandable — after all, it’s not a show for kids. “At that point, I think the most exciting thing about being on set was the fact that I was not in school,” the actor joked. “I think it was one of the first times that I got the chance to skip school and go to the city and work.”

Jordan also recalled that he originally auditioned to play Bodie (J.D. Williams), the slightly older child who kills Wallace.

“I read for ’em, and I was too young so they brought me back the next day for Wallace, and I ended up booking the role,” he explained. When he was 15 years old, Jordan played Wallace in 12 episodes of “The Wire.”

“I take pride in Wallace, because being an OG of the show, one of the original cast members — even though I got killed off towards the end of the first season, it seemed to be a death on television that resonates with a lot of people even today,” he added.