Matt Damon
Sonny Vaccaro
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Air (2023) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
Apr 5, 2023 · Air: Directed by Ben Affleck. With Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina. Follows the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan.
- (170K)
- Drama, Sport
- Ben Affleck
- 2023-04-05
- Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro
- Ben Affleck as Phil Knight
- Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan
- Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser
- Chris Tucker as Howard White
- Marlon Wayans as George Raveling
- Chris Messina as David Falk
- Air Supporting Cast & Characters
Matt Damon leads as John Paul Vincent "Sonny" Vaccaro, a Nike marketing and sales representative tasked with saving his drowning basketball department. Sonny relentlessly pursues Michael Jordan to sign his first shoe deal with Nike before eventually moving on as an executive at Adidas and Reebok. Damon has starred in dozens of major blockbusters in...
Ben Affleck co-stars as the co-founder and chairman of Nike, Phil Knight, who was also the CEO at the time when the movie takes place and is currently one of the wealthiest people in the world. Affleck is also the director of Air, making it the first feature film in which he has directed Matt Damon. Affleck and Damon became a dynamic duo in Hollywo...
Viola Davis plays the impactful role of Michael Jordan's real-life mother, Deloris Jordan, who convinced Michael to take the deal with Nike after the young star expressed apprehension about the deal. Deloris wanted what was best for Michael but was also a guarded and protective mother who approached the offer with scrutiny but eventually persuaded ...
Jason Bateman takes on the role of Rob Strasser, who was Nike's marketing director at the time the movie takes place and Sonny Vacaro's supervisor. Strasser's real life nickname was "Rolling Thunder" and was known to be a voracious in his business pursuits, which greatly influenced the signing of Michael Jordan to Nike. Bateman is a TV and film sta...
The enigmatic Chris Tucker appears as Nike executive Howard White, who currently sits as the Vice President of the Air Jordan Brand and has acted as a trustworthy business mentor for Michael Jordan throughout his career. Chris Tucker is a legendary stand-up comedian who has appeared sparingly in movies since the culturally sensational Rush Hour tri...
Marlon Wayans supports the cast as longtime college basketball coach George Raveling, who served as the head coach of three Division I basketball programs over a span of twenty years. Most notably Wayans was an assistant coach to Bobby Knight for the United States Olympic team in 1984 which Michael Jordan was a part of and went on to win the gold m...
Chris Messina is a dramatic actor that portrays sports agent David Falk, who was Michael Jordan's actual agent at the time of the Nike deal. Falk was a trailblazer in setting up groundbreaking sneaker deals for athletes, having also gotten NBA legend James Worthy a six figure signing, and was responsible for negotiating an offer of nearly half a mi...
Julius Tennon as James Jordan, Michael Jordan's father, who tragically passed away in 1993 just one month after his son won his third consecutive NBA Title. Tennon has appeared alongside Viola Davis in both How To Get Away With Murder and The Woman King. Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, a designer and creative director at Nike during the time of the J...
- Greg Macarthur
- Senior Features Writer
- Katherine Schaffstall
- Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro. Damon stars in Air was Vaccaro, a former sports marketing executive who tried to sign Jordan to a deal with Nike by winning over the athlete’s mother.
- Ben Affleck as Phil Knight. Affleck stars in the film as Knight, the co-founder of Nike Inc. who previously served as the chairman and CEO of the company.
- Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan. Deloris Jordan is the athlete’s mother. During the preproduction process, Jordan asked Affleck to cast Davis as his mom. While talking to THR, Davis explained that Deloris “brokered” her son’s “deal to get him a huge stake in the shoe and in turn, protected her son’s legacy.”
- Julius Tennon as James R. Jordan Sr. James R. Jordan Sr. was the NBA star’s father and the husband of Deloris. He died in 1993 when he was shot while taking a nap in his car.
- Matt Damon is Sonny Vaccaro. Affleck's longtime friend and longtime collaborator plays Nike marketing executive and basketball guru Sonny Vaccaro, who convinced Nike to sign Jordan with an unprecedented Air Jordan-birthing deal before his NBA career had even tipped off.
- Viola Davis is Deloris Jordan. Affleck cast the EGOT-winner as Jordan's mother Deloris at the insistence of the basketball superstar himself. "Michael Jordan was very adamant that the only person who was fit to play his mother was the best actor in the world — Viola Davis," Affleck told EW.
- Ben Affleck is Phil Knight. The Air director plays Nike chief Phil Knight, who co-founded the company — originally called Blue Ribbon Sports — in the mid-'60s.
- Chris Tucker is Howard H. White. In his first big-screen appearance since 2016's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, the Rush Hour star plays Howard H. White, Nike's primary liaison with NBA stars including Jordan and Charles Barkley.
May 18, 2023 · Air tells a captivating true story with a good sense of humor and a star-studded cast. The film is one of 2023's biggest surprises, revolving around the backstage of the ambitious partnership...
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and culture with the Air Jordan brand.
