Jonathan Majors hasn’t technically had a place he calls home since he finished grad school in 2016. For now, his LA home is at the Four Seasons, where we’re meeting for dinner on a December evening. “It’s been cool. I like it,” the actor, who appears on our 2023 Hollywood cover, says as he scoots into the booth with a small ceramic cup. “I can make any place home. It’s an occupational hazard. It’s been that way since I was a boy, though. We moved around a lot.”
Majors, raised in Texas by his single mother who’s a pastor, had some bumps in the road on his way to stardom, getting in trouble for skirmishes at school and, for a while, living out of his car. But acting brought him purpose and peace, and soon after graduating from the Yale School of Drama in 2016, he appeared in his first feature-film role in Hostiles, opposite Christian Bale. Notable work in indies like The Last Black Man in San Francisco, the HBO series Lovecraft Country, Netflix’s The Harder They Fall, and last year’s fighter pilot drama Devotion followed.
It’s a good thing Majors is okay with being on the move because the pace of his world is about to increase dramatically. This year the actor will enter the stratosphere when he plays a Marvel villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, opening February 17. Major’s Kang the Conqueror, a time-traveling baddie who takes on different forms in different timelines, will serve as the MCU’s main villain for several upcoming Marvel films, including 2025’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Majors will follow that up with the release of Creed III in March, in which he stars opposite Michael B. Jordan as a former childhood friend who returns with something to prove after a long prison sentence.
For these roles and the indie Magazine Dreams—which debuted at Sundance to rapturous reviews, with Vanity Fair’s chief critic heralding his performance as a “terrifying wonder”—Majors bulked up to about 200 pounds, often doing three workouts a day and eating around 6,100 calories. His physical transformation has gotten a lot of attention, but it’s the taut, soul-bearing performances he delivers that make him one of the most promising actors working today.
Here, Majors, who often makes his way to Atlanta where his nine-year-old daughter lives (they have a rule in which they try not to spend more than 10 days apart), admits his first meeting with Marvel many years ago didn’t go so well, and shares what he thinks makes a movie star.
Vanity Fair: How does having to change your body so significantly affect you emotionally?
Jonathan Majors: In my drama school, something they really pushed on us was “don’t lift weights, don’t work out.” They were adamant, especially with the fellas, about not getting too big, primarily because it changes your joints, changes what we call the breathing costume. I always had an issue with that because I grew up playing sports at a very competitive level in Texas, so I came as strong as an 18-year-old kid can be. To answer the question, what it does for me is it brings you closer to the character. I’ve had this debate with my current mentors and old acting teachers where I go, “This is actually part of the craft of acting.” It brings you close to the characters and it gets quite spiritual. It is as little acting as possible, which is my biggest thing: Don’t lie. Tell the truth.
One of the main posters for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is just a giant picture of your face as the character Kang. How does it feel to see that?
It’s funny. Again, there were these debates in drama school. They would always be like, “Is that acting? Is that real acting?” I watched all the [Marvel] films and I never thought I would be picked to do it. You know what I mean? They’ve not asked me to change my approach to acting, which was my biggest fear. I mean, [seeing the poster] was probably one of the few moments where I’m like, Holy fuck. This can’t be real. I’m pretty cool. I’m pretty slow to excitement, but I was like, Oh, it’s on.
Kang will appear in several Marvel films as the main villain over the next few years. Did you have any trepidation about signing on for such a long time?
No, not once I realized who the character was and the potential for the character. I mean, listen, I hope this doesn’t bite me in the ass, but I walked out of my Marvel general [meeting].
You walked out?
This was a long time ago. I had just gotten out of drama school and I’m running around town and I’m sitting in the office. I grew up in a very particular way and I don’t want to waste nobody’s time. So I got in there and they’re just busy. And I was like, “I’m supposed to be here, right?” It got long and I went, “I’m just going to go. It’s cool. I’ll just go.” And I got to the door, but then they said [casting director] Sarah Finn was going to come. We got in the room and we chatted. We were having this great conversation. I think it was three years later that we had the Kang chat. And there’s no trepidation now, especially because of who Kang is. When I said yes, we got the whole picture, and what is being laid out is cohesive.
People have noticed you always carry a cup around with you. What’s with that?
Well, cups are built to hold things. So my cup holds water—it’s never alcohol. People should know that. I think it’s important to stay hydrated. My mom told me, just coming up, “Yo, never let anybody fill your cup. No one can fill your cup for you.” And it just became a thing.
With your increasing level of fame, how much are you protecting your personal life?
I think people treat you the way you let them treat you. I am a private individual. I just keep my head down. It’s about the work, how you do your work. I don’t bother nobody. I have no interest in the fuckery of the industry. I’m in bed by twelve o’clock.
You don’t have any social media. Do you feel any pressure to have a presence?
I did get pressure from my team, my publicist, light pressure, early on. I said, “Believe it or not, and you may not see it now, it’s going to take away from my business.” And I’m not shitting on it. I do understand what it means. I know that there’s some things I don’t know because I’m like six days behind on anything that happens with Kanye. I mean, listen, I can mess shit up in the real world. Don’t give me another avenue.
What do you think defines a movie star for your generation?
Look, there’s a time I thought it was a dirty word, you know what I mean? Movie star. In school, you would never dream of saying something so ambitious. Michael [B. Jordan] is such a good example of a movie star because movie stars have to appeal to the bourgeois and the proletariat. Movie stars can show a film in Montana. Movie stars are dangerous to politicians. It’s a different type of burden.
So you don’t think it’s a dirty word anymore?
No. I think it’s a word that I was afraid of, because it actually comes with a lot of hope. And that’s scary.
How are you taking in this moment in your career?
The other day, I was talking outside in the parking lot with my agent, waiting for the gym to open, and I was saying to him, “It’s the long throw.” A lot of guys in the theater—Keith Randolph Smith, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Michael Potts—I was meeting these guys when I was in my 20s and these gentlemen are 60 years old. Those are the actors that I grew up watching. I’m aspiring to be that. I think a lot of folks are going short when they should be going long. But I’m very happy with how everything is going.
But your cup isn’t full.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it is, where I go, I’m not quite satisfied. And it’s got to be that way.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
