In 2015, Majors won the First Place Award at the National Drama Competition held by the National Society of Arts & Letters (NSAL).

Majors studied for his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and later attended the Yale School of Drama; he graduated with an MFA in 2016.

That same year, Majors appeared in his first feature film role as Corporal Henry Woodson in the revisionist Western film Hostiles, written and directed by Scott Cooper. The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2017. It was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2017. More roles followed, in the 2018 films White Boy Rick and Out of Blue. Both of these filmed screened at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, with the latter competing for the Platform Prize.

In 2019, Majors rose to prominence after starring in Joe Talbot’s critically acclaimed independent feature film The Last Black Man in San Francisco, for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019. It was released by A24 in the United States on June 7, 2019. Former President of the United States Barack Obama rated it as one of the best films of 2019. Majors’ performance was praised by critics; Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called his performance “a mournful heartbreaker”, while Rolling Stone described his turn as “both deeply sensitive and charmingly left-of-center”.

Majors was born in Lompoc, California, and spent his early years living with his family—his mother, a pastor, his older sister, Monica, and younger brother, Cameron—on the Vandenberg military base, due to his father being in the Air Force. Majors said in 2020 that, “Our father, who loved us dearly, just kind of disappeared one day … and he resurfaced 17 years later.” Majors has since reconnected with his father. The family soon moved to Dallas, Texas. Majors subsequently lived in Georgetown, Texas, outside of Austin, Texas, and later grew up in Cedar Hill, Texas. After transferring from Cedar Hill High School, he graduated from Duncanville High School in 2008.

In 2020, Majors starred alongside Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo in Spike Lee’s war drama film Da 5 Bloods, which was released on Netflix. That year, he also garnered wider notice for portraying Atticus Freeman in the HBO television series Lovecraft Country. His performance in Lovecraft Country was favorably reviewed by critics; Vogue dubbed him “the emotional core of the show”. In September, Majors was cast as the villain in the untitled Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel.