Lakeith Stanfield Is A New Kind Of Leading Man

If there’s one moment that sums up Lakeith Stanfield’s acting abilities, I’d argue it’s this: halfway through season two of TV series Atlanta, his character, Darius, attends a party at Drake’s mansion and has a stoned conversation with a woman about the nature of illusion.

- Clover Hope

Sitting in the middle of a pool, tossing an apple in the air, he cites Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument, which suggests reality is generated by computers. It’s weird – like, super weird – but something about the way he delivers the complicated dialogue has you nodding along with every word.

Lakeith, 27, first signed on to the Golden Globe Award-winning series because he thought it might provide some deeper insight into the music scene of Atlanta, US. But the surreal comedy, which stars Donald Glover as Earn Marks, the manager and cousin of a rapper named Paper Boi (played by Brian Tyree Henry), and Lakeith as their offbeat friend, has become a genre-defying commentary on all aspects of black life. “I began to realise it was a story about human beings, and coming to understand one’s self and place in the world,” Lakeith says. “Essentially what the show is saying is that being black is being human. I’m a human first – but in black circumstances.”