--- description: Find out how LaKeith Stanfield is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2021 TIME100 Next: LaKeith Stanfield image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf437744c99b9cfda/698a171e096a9400956a91ed/LaKeith-Stanfield.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 16, 2021 # LaKeith Stanfield by Boots Riley  Lakeith Stanfield in Los Angeles, June 26, 2018\. The new symbol of Hollywood weird, who is starring in "Sorry to Bother You," refuses to be categorized as part of a movement. "I'm just doing me," he said. (Ryan Pfluger/The New York Times) Lakeith Stanfield in Los Angeles, June 26, 2018\. The new symbol of Hollywood weird, who is starring in "Sorry to Bother You," refuses to be categorized as part of a movement. "I'm just doing me," he said. (Ryan Pfluger/The New York Times)Ryan Pfluger—The New York Times/Redux [LaKeith Stanfield](https://time.com/4904273/lakeith-stanfield-contemporary-chameleon/ "undefined") is a ghost. Watch him haunt _Atlanta, Sorry to Bother You_ or[_Judas and the Black Messiah_](https://time.com/5936563/judas-and-the-black-messiah-review/ "undefined")—you’ll see. His eyes search and stab you. You are overcome by familiarity, recognition. You’ve hurt like that. Been scared like that. Lied like that. Simply quoting the acceptable words and slogans is often sold as courageous, but this filmic apparition bucks that, never taking the easy route of contorting his face in the conventional ways that we’ve been taught to accept in film. No. He goes through it. He goes through it to drag us with him. LaKeith’s eyes shine out in the dark, like a ghost in some old cartoon waiting to pounce—or do something we already regret. A ghost of you. Of all of us. Boo. _Riley is a filmmaker who wrote and directed the 2018 film_ Sorry to Bother You ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937674/lakeith-stanfield/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937674/lakeith-stanfield/"},"headline":"LaKeith Stanfield","datePublished":"2021-02-16T22:45:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:47:32.612Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937674/lakeith-stanfield/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf437744c99b9cfda/698a171e096a9400956a91ed/LaKeith-Stanfield.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/bltf437744c99b9cfda/698a171e096a9400956a91ed/LaKeith-Stanfield.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-2021/5937674/lakeith-stanfield/","name":"LaKeith Stanfield"}}]}] ```