BIO

Long Form

Honored by Forbes, Black Enterprise, and the UNCF Hall of Honor. Named to Memphis's 40 Under 40. Given the Key to the City by his hometown of Rossville, Tennessee, not for one thing, but for all of it.

Justin D. Key is a SAG-AFTRA actor, bestselling author, USC professor, and founder whose work spans film, television, the page, the stage, and the boardroom. Rooted in Memphis and shaped by Los Angeles, he has spent nearly two decades building a body of work defined by presence, precision, and a long-view approach to a modern creative life.

On screen, his credits include Netflix, BET, Comedy Central, PBS, and Amazon Prime, alongside national campaigns for Walmart, Ross, and Burlington. He approaches each role with the same intentionality that has guided every other dimension of his career.

Off screen, Justin is the founder of Black Theorem Co., where he partners with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and startups on leadership, mindset, and organizational culture. He also serves as a professor at the University of Southern California, and is the bestselling author of Mind Control and The Pursuit of Curiosity, a CIPA EVVY Award-nominated book released in 2025.

He has carried that work to stages in Seoul, Tokyo, Guangzhou, London, and beyond, trusted as a keynote speaker, panelist, and host who meets every audience where they are and leaves them somewhere new.

At the core of all of it is a belief he lives by: curiosity isn't a distraction. It's direction.