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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who grew up in Oakland, stars as John Creasy in the Netflix series \u201cMan on Fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Juan Rosas\/Netflix<\/p>\n
Even though Yahya Abdul-Mateen II<\/a> grew up in Oakland and worked for the City of San Francisco\u2019s planning department<\/a>, he hasn\u2019t visited the Bay Area much since relocating to New York to pursue an acting career.<\/p>\n But there he was at Oracle Park on opening day<\/a> of the Major League Baseball season in March enjoying the rare, very warm spring day for the San Francisco Giants<\/a>-New York Yankees game with his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cMan on Fire\u201d (TV-MA) begins streaming on Netflix on Thursday, April 30.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be back in the Bay Area. The Giants didn\u2019t pull it off, but it\u2019s all good,\u201d the UC Berkeley alum told the Chronicle of the Yankees\u2019 7-0 victory<\/a>. \u201cIt was still good to be in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Abdul-Mateen thinks it might have been his first visit to the city since December 2021, when he graced the red carpet at the Castro Theatre for the world premiere of \u201cThe Matrix Resurrections<\/a>,\u201d which was partially filmed in the city.<\/p>\n This time he came as a guest of Netflix. The streaming giant, which broadcast the MLB game<\/a>, was in full promo-mode for Abdul-Mateen\u2019s new series, \u201cMan on Fire.\u201d The show is based on the 2004 Ridley Scott movie<\/a> that starred Denzel Washington<\/a> and A. J. Quinnell\u2019s series of novels.<\/p>\n Yahya Abdul-Mateen II at Oracle Park in San Francisco during the Opening Night game of the 2026 Major League Baseball season between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants on March 25.<\/p>\n Debora Coleman\/Netflix<\/p>\n Abdul-Mateen, who won an Emmy<\/a> for his work on the HBO series \u201cWatchmen<\/a>\u201d (2019), stars as John Creasy, a recovering alcoholic and ex-CIA agent trying to overcome his failure at a recent mission. When one of his best friends (Bobby Cannavale) is killed in a terrorist attack in Rio de Janeiro, Creasy must protect his friend\u2019s daughter (Billie Boullet) and root out those responsible.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n All eight episodes are set to premiere on Thursday, April 30.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After his career was slowed by the pandemic, 2026 is shaping up to be a breakthrough year for Abdul-Mateen. He was the star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series \u201cWonder Man<\/a>,\u201d which debuted on Disney+ in January. Later this year he will appear alongside Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino<\/a> and David Fincher\u2019s<\/a> \u201cThe Adventures of Cliff Booth,\u201d a sequel to Tarantino\u2019s 2019 hit \u201cOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/a>,\u201d and alongside Mark Wahlberg<\/a> in the crime movie \u201cBy Any Means.\u201d<\/p>\n But first, Adbdul-Mateen recently spoke to the Chronicle about his proud Bay Area roots and how they continue to shape his work.<\/p>\n This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, left, as John Creasy in the Netflix series \u201cMan on Fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Juan Rosas\/Netflix<\/p>\n Q: You\u2019ve lived in New York for years, but you started a production company called House Eleven10. Why did you call it that?\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A: That was the (address of the Oakland) house that I grew up in, which was a house that had a lot of energy, a lot of love, adventure and passion. (It\u2019s) where some of my earliest creative thinking and inspirational thinking happened.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been quietly putting together some really, really good projects. I really wanted to create a brilliant location where like-minded artists can come and express their voices and build a culture.<\/p>\n Q: You\u2019re the latest artist with ties to Oakland to break through. Of course, there\u2019s Ryan Coogler<\/a>, Delroy Lindo<\/a>, Zendaya<\/a>, Marshawn Lynch<\/a>, Mahershala Ali<\/a>, Boots Riley<\/a>, even Olympic figure skating champ Alysa Liu<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and I could go on. What is it about Oakland?<\/p>\n A: Oakland definitely knows how to make some noise. I\u2019m really, really proud of the city right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s important for young artists in Oakland and in the Bay Area to be able to see themselves on the national stage. That\u2019s good for the soul and that\u2019s good for inspiration for myself. I\u2019m happy to be part of the conversation.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n John Creasy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) protects Poe (Billie Boullet) from assassination in the Netflix series \u201cMan on Fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Juan Rosas\/Netflix<\/p>\n Q: I hear you once had quite the athletic rivalry against Marshawn, who went on to become an NFL great and has now turned to acting.<\/p>\n A: Not in football. We played basketball, I played at McClymonds (High School), he played at (Oakland) Tech. We also ran track. I ran the 100 meters against him.<\/p>\n Q: In 2022 you made your Broadway debut in a revival of Suzan-Lori Parks\u2019 \u201cTopdog\/Underdog,\u201d and received a Tony Award nomination for best leading actor. How did that experience inform your film and television acting?<\/p>\n A: It sharpened my instrument, sharpened my mind and my body. Coming off of 120-plus shows on stage, then go to Los Angeles to play this character (in \u201cWonder Man\u201d), Simon Williams, whose dream is to be an actor and who had a real strong appreciation for and love for the craft; one thing just played right into the other.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I showed up ready, game to play. It just really reminded me to rely on the craft and to play and have fun.<\/p>\n Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as John Creasy in the Netflix series \u201cMan on Fire,\u201d a reboot of the 2004 movie.<\/p>\n Juan Rosas\/Netflix<\/p>\n Q: In \u201cMan on Fire,\u201d your Creasy is so different from Denzel\u2019s Creasy. You play such an introverted character, a man of few words. Every sentence is measured. How did you delve into such an interior character?<\/p>\n A: What was interesting about Creasy was the fact that he was a man that was put in a situation that he was not ready for. Throughout the course of shooting, I laughed a lot (off screen) at the reality that Creasy should not be here. He was thrust in the middle of a situation having to be a hero, when he was at the same time needing to save his own life.<\/p>\n So that was exciting, walking that fine line of figuring out when to preserve himself and when to put himself on the line for someone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who grew up in Oakland, stars as John Creasy in the Netflix series \u201cMan on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[329,838,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-293223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-movies-and-tv","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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