A star is defined not by a person’s level of celebrity or their willingness to catapult them into the hottest A-List parties. A real star is someone who can emerge themselves in a role so well we think they’re taking bits and pieces from their own life and projecting them on screen to air their grievances. That my friends, is what real stars are made of and Michael Rainey Jr. is well on his way to becoming one of those stars.

At only fifteen years of age, Michael Rainey Jr. has acted alongside some very large names including Omari Hardwick and Naturi Naughton on the Starz network show, “Power”, Common and Danny Glover in the film, “Luv”, Oprah Winfrey and Forrest Whitaker in, “Lee Daniels: The Butler” and even Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer in the upcoming installment of “Barbershop.”

While many people would be in awe at working alongside such heavy hitters, Michael doesn’t shy away from the opportunity and says he doesn’t get starstruck easily. On the show “Power” Michael portrays the eldest son, Tariq St. Patrick, of Omari Hardwick’s character James “Ghost” St. Patrick whom we know as a major kingpin. As a viewer of the show, I think the children are oblivious to what their father does for a living which can make them see him in a totally different light from what we see. Michael supports my thoughts by saying that he doesn’t think Tariq even realizes his father is this major drug lord. He mostly just looks up to him as his father, and nothing more or less.

Michael’s first movie was the 2010 Silvio Muccino directed “Un Altro Mondo” in which Michael he played the lead character “Charlie” along side Silvio Muccino himself. American-born Michael lived in Italy for some time to prepare for this film and went from speaking only English to speaking Italian for this role. In addition to adding a new language to his belt, Michael plays basketball and enjoys making beats.

When asked if he would ever take the “Mack Wilds” route and transition from acting into music, Michael replied, “I don’t know about singing or rapping, I’m not really the artist type, but I do like making music, so I may want to do that for other artists.”

Michael Rainey Jr. is indeed on his way to becoming a major star but for the time being, he is fine with being lowkey. “My family and friends treat me like a regular person and I like that.No special treatment over here. They know that I don’t like all that attention, I just want to be a regular teen.”

We can’t wait to see Michael Rainey Jr. in the third installment of Barbershop 3 and as well as the upcoming season of Power.

Edited by Monique C. Tillman