Aaron Pierre is one of the stars of the new bio series Genius: MLK/X, which will air on National Geographic on Thursday, February 1. After premiering on National Geographic, the series will be available to stream on Disney+. The series will follow the lone time that Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. met, while also exploring both of the Civil Rights leaders’ fights for the movement, up until their deaths. Aaron plays Malcolm X, while Kelvin Harrison Jr. will play Dr. King.
Ahead of the new series, get to know more about the actor, who is playing Malcolm X in the series here.
Aaron Began His Acting Career in 2016
Aaron studied theater at the prestigious London LAMDA Conservatory. He made his film debut in the short film 18 Latimer Road in 2016. After that, he had a few small TV roles, but his breakout was in the Amazon Prime series The Underground Railroad in 2021. After that, he had roles in films like Old and Brother the following two years, according to IMDb.
He Did a Lot of Research to Play Malcolm X
Ahead of the premiere of Genius, Aaron spoke about how the series aimed to highlight the similarities in missions between Malcolm X and MLK. “What we are highlighting and celebrating is how, although they were on parallel paths toward the same objective, there was a synchronicity and there was a synergy. What they both prided themselves on and were led by was the integrity of humanity and dignity of humanity,” he told UPI in January 2024.
While preparing for the role, Aaron said that he dove into everything he could about Malcolm. “We read the autobiographies. We read The Sword and the Shield,” he said. “We watched the documentaries. We went to Harlem and all these places and we lived and breathed — as best we could — in those stomping grounds where they existed, where they lived, where they were leaders.”
He’s Going to Join the MCU
While Genius is his next big project, Aaron is also gearing up for a few more major roles under the Disney umbrella. He’s set to voice Mufasa in a Lion King prequel film. He was also announced to join the cast of the Marvel film Blade, which will premiere in 2025, per Deadline.
He Won an Award for his ‘Othello’ Performance
Outside of his film and TV acting, Aaron also starred in a William Shakespeare classic play in 2018. He played the part of Cassio in The Bard’s Othello, and he was given the Ian Charleson Award that year, according to a press release from Amazon.
He Competes in Jiu Jitsu
Prior to being an actor, Aaron was quite the runner. He opened up about making the moves from athletics to acting in a 2018 interview with The Guardian. “I wanted to be a sprinter, when I was a kid. Then I reached a point where such a strict way of eating just didn’t appeal! But my school did plays, and I joined a theatre group in Croydon, in this really run-down warehouse. We’d devise our own plays and put them on for anybody that could be bothered to turn up,” he said. “I like to keep healthy and fit, but I’m definitely not a sprinter any more – well, I’m a sprinter at family picnics! That’s when I do my thing.”
While he may not be a sprinter anymore, Aaron has showed that he still has an interest in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He revealed that he won a gold medal in his first competition in a May 2023 Instagram post.