The new world can be hard to grasp. The cultural and technological landscape changes so rapidly as to always be just out of reach, that proverbial fish slipping out of one’s hands the moment it seems to have been caught. Producer, actor, car enthusiast, and philanthropist Michael Rainey Jr. is well aware of the ephemeral nature of moment-catching, but at this moment, he’s “really trying to mold [his] future.” 

Of all who speak of the culture’s short attention span, Michael Rainey Jr. is perhaps one of the most well-qualified—the actor spent the great majority of his adolescence and young adulthood on the set of the Starz hit show, Power, and its spinoff Power Book II: Ghost playing Tariq St. Patrick. “I was on the show since I was 12, I’m 24 now,” he says. 

Power Book II: Ghost recently aired its series finale, and with it came the close to a life-affirming chapter. “A lot of fans say, ‘It feels like I grew up with you. I’ve seen you go from a little boy to a young man.’ And they literally have. A lot of people witnessed half of my life.” But the actor seems to have little time for the pitfalls that often become of child stars. “Obviously it’s bittersweet, I’ve been with the character for so long,” Rainey says. “But I feel like it’s a good time for me to branch out and show different aspects [of myself] and ranges of my skills.” 

His unique life has afforded Rainey an invaluable perspective, one forged through a reflection of industry standards in collision with evolving tastes and viewership habits. Now the budding professional—with more than a decade’s worth of experience behind him—charts a life engaged with what’s to come next. “I think my whole generation is of a similar mindset,” he says. “Entertainment, it’s not only TV and movies. Vlogging, podcasts, even streamers get the viewership now.” 

But, the larger trends are there for the understanding, and the opportunities for success are plenty. Enter Twenty Two Entertainment, a production firm founded by Rainey and his Power co-star Gianni Paolo when Rainey was 22 years old. His is a company centered around autonomy for artists with a focus on self-created content. “Me and Gianni, we would always think ‘What will we have after Power?’… The actors and the actresses, they don’t just want to wait around on the studios all day. And they want to create their own stuff. They can call people to work with them rather than waiting around for the call.” His ethics reflect ownership and independence, a consultation of the old guard informing the new world—the spirit of a new generation making its mark in traditional media. 

Michael Rainey Jr. is a man of multitudes, and he sees a world disposing of the days when an actor made a living simply by the grace of a few allowing them to perform their craft. Those hobbies and passions outside of the business? They are the business. His love of cars is not a self-indulgent enterprise, but a product of his journey through racing school and rallies to be captured and made into a web series. His interest in fashion doesn’t manifest by way of a haphazard photoshoot here and there, but is expressed through ambassadorships with brands he loves and admires: case and point, his current ambassadorship with Tommy Hilfiger. “I love clothes and I love style,” Rainey says of being a part of Tommy Hilfiger family. We [the Tommy Hilfiger team] ended up just kicking it off over dinner, and we built up our relationship. They brought me out to fashion week, out to different shows… That relationship really just started off with genuine friendship and it grew from there. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more with Tommy. The family over there is super cool and super welcoming.” 

Rainey credits his remarkable ability to follow his interests to lucrative ends and to keep an even keel in the face of a murky future to the sage advice bestowed on him by his older co-stars. “I had so many great people giving me advice” he shares. “Every day I was on the set with Omari [Hardwick], Joseph [Sikora], Naturi [Naughton], 50 Cent. They would always be telling me everything I needed to hear.” 50 Cent in particular afforded Rainey with indelible guidance that he can still recite today: “Never feel so entitled to something to where you deprive yourself of it. Don’t worry about proving anybody wrong, just prove yourself right.” And as it pertains to business, “Ownership is everything.” 

Very soon, Rainey will appear alongside Chloe Bailey in his first-ever horror title Goons. He speaks of being on set, traversing the Louisiana bogs, with equal glee as when he discusses New York Fashion Week. Like all those who endeavor to carve a future for themselves and their peers, Rainey insists on keeping himself in a state of excitement and curiosity. About anything. About everything. 

As we speak, important questions seem to always be buzzing through the actor’s head: What am I looking at now? How does it connect to what I saw before? Where are we going? More importantly—what is my place in that destination? For a man juggling so much, Rainey takes time to indulge in the moments in transit—in the in-between. “When you don’t have too much to do or worry about, you just reflect on what you’ve just done and what you’re about to do.”

Photographed by David Urbanke

Styled by Charlie Ward

Written by Jake Carlisi

Grooming: Ryann Carter 

Flaunt Film: Tyler Rabin and Jabari Browne 

Grooming Assistant: Lauren Simpson

Location: Blanc Studios