Table of contents for April 24, 2023 in TIME Magazine

Michael B. Jordan Forging his legacy BY RYAN COOGLER Michael B. Jordan has been a working actor for over 24 years. Four years longer than LeBron James’ NBA career, and one year longer than Tom Brady’s stint on the NFL gridiron. He has a youthful appearance and spirit, so it’s easy to overlook his incredible feat of staying power in an industry that can be so transactional. He has toiled away on network television, cable, independent cinema, midbudget studio fare, and Hollywood blockbusters alike, always with a blue collar approach. With this year’s Creed III, he took on a new role—feature-film director—and handled it with aplomb. I knew he would. Because directing is a working person’s game. The world sees the press tours, the interviews, and the edited behind-the-scenes…

Doja Cat A new kind of star BY BAZ LUHRMANN I’ve worked with all kinds of artists, but with a certain few you connect on a deeper level. For me, Doja Cat is one of those artists. She’s at the top because she works to bring everything she does to the highest possible level. When she started to work on “Vegas” for Elvis, Elvis was relegated to a Halloween costume—he wasn’t influential to the younger generation. But Doja and her producer Yeti Beats understood the importance of translating “Hound Dog” for a new audience. For them, it was an act of translating the roots of Black music. Doja is a true child of the internet, creatively plugged into the kind of social connection that I’m generationally incapable of understanding.…

Angela Bassett At the top of her game BY TINA TURNER Someone’s going to play me in What’s Love Got to Do With It? I was a little bit skeptical when work began on the 1993 film. First of all, who are they going to find to sing, dance, and act like me? Then, I looked up, saw Angela, and immediately started to smile. Angela, the first time we met, you didn’t look, sound, or move like me—that came later after you worked so hard to make it happen. But even then, I could see that the young woman standing before me had strength, determination, and big, big dreams, just like me. “She’s perfect,” I said, and I was right. You never mimicked me. Instead, you reached deep into…

Bob Iger Steering storytelling BY MARY BARRA For 100 years, the Walt Disney Co. has entertained, informed, and inspired people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling. Bob Iger has guided the company to success for nearly two decades and is one of the best leaders I know. There’s a reason Bob remains one of the world’s most admired CEOs. He has led landmark acquisitions, championed culture-defining films, launched innovative distribution platforms, and delivered strong financial results, all while never forgetting the people—the employees and the fans—who make it all possible. His return as CEO in 2022 ushered in a new era of transformation and creative excellence for the most magical company on earth. His authenticity and pragmatism set him apart. “True authority and true leadership comes…

The felony charges Donald Trump faces in New York may be just the beginning of his legal travails. Trump is in the sights of multiple other serious criminal investigations, and whatever taboo may have made other prosecutors hesitate before charging a former President has been swept away by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s allegations that Trump falsified business records to pay off a porn star before the 2016 election. Atlanta-area prosecutors are examining Trump’s role in efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s Georgia victory in the 2020 presidential election, including a January 2021 phone call in which Trump was recorded telling Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s win in the state. In that case, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis assembled a special…

Olena Zelenska A light for Ukraine BY JILL BIDEN A writer who worked behind the scenes, she never asked for a spotlight. A mother of two, she never asked to become the heart of a nation at war. Olena Zelenska didn’t expect to become a warrior for the people of Ukraine, but she has answered this call with selfless courage. I met the First Lady last Mother’s Day in a small town near the edge of her country, just a few months after Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression began. Instinctively, we embraced—two mothers, two nations, coming together for peace. In the strain of her smile, I could see the weight she carried: the sleep lost to the percussion of falling bombs, the tales of atrocities that she would never…

Jennifer Coolidge Fascinating and fabulous BY MIA FARROW “Let’s make a video where you and I are beating the sh-t out of each other,” Jennifer Coolidge texted me one night a few months ago. “… Does that seem too desperate???” The proposal for catching a filmmaker’s eye, like everything Jennifer says and does, was one-of-a-kind and irresistible. We met last year, while shooting the Netflix series The Watcher on a cavernous soundstage in Brooklyn. I asked the woman beside me in the makeup room, who without her usual glamorous styling looked for all the world like a sweet-faced kid, if she was Jennifer Coolidge, whose work I’ve long admired. She said she was, and I spent a rainy, slow-paced day sitting alongside her at the edge of set, chatting…