Michael B Jordan has just achieved the one thing that every actor dreams of - getting their hands on the prestigious Oscars statuette. And he did it on his first try! His dual role as twins Smoke and Stack in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners did the trick for the Academy voters, and made him the sixth black male actor in the history of the Academy to win an Oscar in the best actor category. 

Following the footsteps of trailblazing legends like Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith, he joined this elite list of actors. While he acknowledged that they made the path for him, he said in his acceptance speech that his parents, Donna and Michael A Jordan, gave him the courage to walk it in the first place.

Well, hearing about them in his Oscars speech, there is this curiosity to know more about them now.

Michael B. Jordan’s parents come from a humble background, away from the glam and glitz of Hollywood. Michael A. Jordan initially worked as a supervisor at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York. He then switched to catering meals at Chad in New Jersey, a private tuition-based school established by the Black Youth Organization in the 1960s, per Vanity Fair. At that same school, Donna Jordan was a guidance counsellor as well as a teacher, and later, Michael B Jordan and his siblings went to junior high there.

Early in his childhood, when he was around 11, during a doctor visit, a receptionist suggested to Donna that young Jordan should try modelling. She gave it a try, and little did she know at the time that it would turn into a full-time career. Jordan has, on numerous occasions, spoken out about the kind of support his parents have given him throughout his career. The Sinners actor talked about the sacrifices his parents made for him and his siblings.

“I’m just grateful. Honestly it’s like they all have had such an impact on me and who I am and how I approach each day. Without that, a lot of things about me just wouldn’t be the same. So it all comes back to that foundation,” he told PEOPLE. His words show deep gratitude towards his parents’ role in his life and career, and how they help him be grounded and humble.

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Not only with his words, but he has also expressed his gratefulness with heartfelt gestures like taking his mother with him to almost every major event and even buying his parents a house.   

The actor who won the historic 2026 Oscars bought his parents a $1.7 million house in Sherman Oaks, California, in 2015. Jordan revealed that purchasing a home for his parents had always been his ambition in a 2018 interview with The Times. Despite being so successful, he decided to live with them for a long time until he moved out and bought a place just 20 minutes away from theirs in 2020.

Well, sadly, all is not sunshine and rainbows in the Jordan household as Donna Jordan has lupus. The illness damages healthy tissue, resulting in joint pain and inflammation. But on the bright side, she serves as a board member of Lupus LA, organizing activities for people with lupus and their families, including live painting sessions.   

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Did you know about Michael B Jordan’s parents? Let us know in the comments.