---
name: "Jelani Cobb"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jelani-cobb"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "21 August 1969"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T05:24:37.924521+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jelani Cobb

Actor. Born 21 August 1969 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 21 August 1969, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
- **Also known as:** William Jelani Cobb
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8013536, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2573163/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1700943

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*13th*](https://film.one/film/13th.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Jelani Cobb, also credited as William Jelani Cobb, is an American writer, author and educator who has appeared in several documentaries and television series. Born on 21 August 1969 in Queens, New York City, he is Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and a staff writer at *The New Yorker* since 2015.

Cobb previously served as an associate professor of history and director of the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is known for his appearances as himself in the documentary *13th* (2016) and as Jelani Cobb in *Marvel's Luke Cage* (2018). He has also featured in *Queen Sugar* (2017) and produced or written for series including *Frontline* and *American Experience*.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, journalism.columbia.edu.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *13th* (2016), Fi1m 84, as Self — [page](https://film.one/film/13th.md)

## Also known for

- *Marvel's Luke Cage* (2016), Jelani Cobb

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jelani-cobb