Guest ArtistsCommon

As an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and Grammy®-winning artist, actor and activist, Common continues to break down barriers with a multitude of critically acclaimed, diverse roles and continued success at the box office.

Common most recently wrapped production on The Kitchen, based on the DC/Vertigo female-led comic book series. He stars alongside Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss. Set in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen during the 1970s, the story follows wives of Irish mobsters (McCarthy, Haddish and Moss) who team up to take over running the business after their husbands are sent to prison.

Recently on the big screen, Common lent his voice to Warner Brothers’ animated feature Smallfoot, released last Fall. The animated film follows a young Yeti as he discovers a human. The film also stars Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez and Yara Shahidi. Later in 2018 he was seen in the Fox 2000 film The Hate You Give, opposite Amanda Stenberg, Issa Rae and KJ Apa. This timely drama, directed by George Tillman Jr., follows a teenage girl who witnesses a white police officer shooting her best friend and is based on the novel by Angela Thomas. In 2019 he will appear in Andrea Di Stefano’s action-thriller, The Informer, with an all-star cast including Clive Owen, Rosamund Pike and Joel Kinnaman.

He starred in the Oscar®-nominated Selma, a film centered on the civil rights marches that changed America. Alongside John Legend, he won the Academy Award and Golden Globe in 2015 for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “Glory,” which was featured in the film. (Their performance of “Glory” during the live broadcast of the Oscars® that year was a memorable highlight of the show.) In 2016 he appeared in David Ayer’s high profile comic book movie, Warner Bros’ Suicide Squad. The film broke box office records both domestically and around the world.

In 2017 Common starred opposite Keanu Reeves in the highly anticipated sequel John Wick: Chapter 2. (He also appears in the recently-released John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.) He appeared in Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening of Monumental Proportions with Allison Janney, and he also appeared in Bleecker Street’s military drama Megan Leavey alongside Kate Mara, Tom Felton, Bradley Whitford and Edie Falco.

It was announced in 2017 that Common will executive produce Black Samurai, a TV adaptation of Marc Olden’s 1974 book series, which inspired the 1977 film of the same name. He is also set to star in Quick Draw, a new revenge action thriller to be produced by Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Content Media.

Behind the scenes, Common recently executive-produced the Netflix drama Burning Sands and performed the closing credits original song “The Cross,” featuring Lianne Le Havas. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix in March of that year. He serves as an executive producer of Showtime’s hit TV series The Chi, a coming-of-age story set in Chicago from Emmy Award-winning writer Lena Waithe. Showtime recently renewed the series for a third season.

Common’s 11th studio album, Black America Again, was released in November 2016 on ARTium/Def Jam Recordings. The album includes socially conscious new single “Black America Again” (featuring Stevie Wonder) and the anthem “Letter to the Free,” the end-title track to Ava Duvernay’s powerful Oscar®-nominated documentary 13th, for which he also received the 2017 Emmy for “Best Music and Lyrics.” After collaborating on that album, Common, Robert Glasper and Karriem Riggins joined together to form the super-group August Greene. The trio made their live debut in January 2018 at New York’s Highline Ballroom as part of Glasper’s annual Grammy® Awards party; they released their first joint album, August Greene, three months later through Amazon Music.

Common was recently featured on Andra Day‘s song for Open Road Films’ Marshall soundtrack, “Stand Up for Something,” co-written by Common and eight-time Academy Award nominee Diane Warren. The original song received Oscar®, Grammy®, NAACP and Critic Choice Award nominations, as well as the “Hollywood Song Award” at the 2017 Hollywood Film Awards.