--- title: John David Washington Is on the TIME100 Next 2021 List description: Find out how John David Washington is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-02-17T01:45:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:48:06.809Z og:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: John David Washington og:description: Find out why John David Washington is on this year’s TIME100 Next list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2cc36cc06e4947/698a173cb3fce32bdf0c7b35/time100-next-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2021 TIME100 Next: John David Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: John David Washington twitter:description: Find out why John David Washington is on this year’s TIME100 Next list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2cc36cc06e4947/698a173cb3fce32bdf0c7b35/time100-next-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 17, 2021 # John David Washington by Spike Lee  Rahim Fortune for WSJ. Magazine There is a Proverb: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In this case, the Trees are Denzel and Pauletta Washington, and the Fruit is John David Washington, my young Lion, who first appeared on the Silver Screen at the ripe old age of 7 in _Malcolm X_. You might say his career started there, but it was never that simple—not as the SON of the WORLD FAMOUS Denzel. Sons like that have a rough way to go. It can be a Gift, a Burden or Both. Young J.D. found his own path, starting as a Running Back for the Morehouse football team. I’m proud to call him my MOREHOUSE BROTHER, a fellow alum of a great historically Black college. But despite his time on the field, my guess is that J.D. wanted to be an Actor from the Get-Go. When I began development on _BlacKkKlansman_, I knew right away that J.D. was “da MAN WIT da PLAN” to portray the [real-life Ron Stallworth](https://time.com/5357789/the-true-story-behind-blackkklansman-according-to-the-man-who-inspired-the-movie/ "undefined"). I had peeped his SKILLZ in HBO’s series _Ballers_ and I liked what I saw. And as they say, “Da Rest Iz History.” J.D. killed it as Stallworth. When Christopher Nolan, my cinema brother, saw the film at Cannes, I think I saw tears in his eyes. Then—BOOMSHOCKALOCKA! J.D. was cast as the lead in Nolan’s _Tenet_. When J.D. appears in his New Netflix film _Malcolm & Marie_ in February, people will be Hooting and Hollering for our new matinee idol, our new Dark Gable. The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like Father, like Son. Amen. _Lee is a writer, film director and producer_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/"},"headline":"John David Washington","datePublished":"2021-02-17T01:45:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:48:06.809Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2cc36cc06e4947/698a173cb3fce32bdf0c7b35/time100-next-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2cc36cc06e4947/698a173cb3fce32bdf0c7b35/time100-next-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937662/john-david-washington/","name":"John David Washington"}}]}] ```