12 Great Martin Luther King Jr. Movie and Show Portrayals

Publish date: 2024-05-21

Paul Winfield
Paul Winfield was the first to star as the civil rights leader, in NBC’s 1978 television miniseries King. The three-part series garnered a total of eight Emmy nominations (including an outstanding lead actor nod for Winfield) and one win for music composition.
James Earl Jones
The 1982 miniseries Freedom to Speak, which featured a wide range of historical figures including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sojourner Truth and Daniel Webster, saw James Earl Jones portray both Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass.
Robert Guillaume
Then best known for his role in the Golden Globe-nominated series Benson, Robert Guillaume portrayed the leader in the 1985 film Prince Jack, which chronicled the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
Clifton Powell
Clifton Powell portrayed the activist in ABC’s TV movie Selma, Lord, Selma. Set in 1960s Alabama, the 1999 drama centered on a young girl’s bold decision to join the civil rights movement upon being stirred by one of King’s speeches.
Courtney B Vance
Courtney B. Vance played King in the television miniseries Parting the Waters in 2000. He went on to win an Emmy for portraying another real-life person, Johnnie Cochran, for 2016’s The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
LeVar Burton
Alongside film lead Will Smith, LeVar Burton starred as King in 2001’s Ali. The film, set mainly during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, told the story of pro boxer Muhammad Ali.
Jeffrey Wright
In the 2001 TV movie Boycott, Jeffrey Wright (left, pictured with Terrence Howard) and Carmen Ejogo portrayed Dr. King and wife Coretta Scott King (Ejogo played the role of King’s wife again in 2014’s Selma). The film raked in three nominations and one win at the NAACP Image Awards.
Samuel L. Jackson
In his Broadway debut in 2011, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed King in the stage production The Mountaintop. The play was set in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis and depicted the leader’s final moments before his assassination.
Dexter Scott King
Dexter Scott King, the second son of King and wife Coretta, starred as his own father in 2002’s The Rosa Parks Story, a TV movie based on the life of civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
Malik Yoba
Malik Yoba starred as the leader in 2013’s Betty & Coretta. The TV movie, which traced the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s widowed wives following their husbands’ assassination, featured Mary J. Blige and Angela Bassett as Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz.
Nelsan Ellis
True Blood’s Nelsan Ellis brought King to the screen in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. The 2013 film followed White House butler Cecil Gaines (played by Forest Whitaker) as he lived through the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and other milestones in history. Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo co-starred.
David Oyelowo
David Oyelowo took on the leading role of director Ava DuVernay’s 2014 King biopic Selma, which depicted King’s 1965 voting rights campaign and the famed march from Selma to Montgomery. The actor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.