Meet John Boyega, the 23-year-old 'Star Wars' star who's having his Hollywood breakthrough
John Boyega was born March 17, 1992 in Peckham, London to Nigerian immigrants. His father was a preacher and his mother worked with the disabled. After playing a leopard in elementary school, Boyega knew he wanted to act.
He was invited to join Theatre Peckham when he was nine, a special theater school for aspiring actors. He later studied performing arts at South Thames College and trained at the Identity School of Acting.
Source: CNN
His earliest roles included a character on the British web drama series "Becoming Human" and a guest appearance on "Law & Order: UK."
Boyega's first feature role was in "Attack the Block," a British sci-fi comedy that has since become a cult favorite and garnered praise for the then-19-year-old actor.
Boyega earned a nomination for most promising newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and best male newcomer at the UK Empire Awards.
Source: New York Times and IMDB
He was later tied to Spike Lee's "Da Brick," which would have featured Boyega as the lead boxer in a series inspired by Mike Tyson's youth, but HBO passed on the project. John Ridley wrote the pilot.
Source: Indiewire
After starring in some TV movies and the indie drama "Junkhearts," he appeared alongside Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 2013's "Half of a Yellow Sun," a film adaptation of the novel of the same name.
In 2014, he appeared in four episodes of "24: Live Another Day," which was the miniseries return of "24."
He also starred in the indie drama "Imperial Dreams," which won the audience award at 2014's Sundance Film Festival.
Boyega is getting much more visible in Hollywood as one of the leads in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He plays Finn, a former Stormtrooper-turned-apparent rebel. After clips appeared with Finn wielding Anakin's lightsaber, fans have been left to wonder if he's a Jedi.
The casting process took seven months, and to prepare for his auditions (seven or eight), Boyega watched YouTube clips of Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford's auditions from the original movies.
But not everyone was excited about Boyega's casting as Finn. Some people argued that a black Stormtrooper wasn't logical in the "Star Wars" universe. Boyega had one thing to say to those people: "Get over it."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Beast
Boyega owns six lightsabers, some of which he is going to give away to "certain people."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
"The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams was a fan of "Attack the Block" and was waiting for a chance to collaborate with Boyega.
"There was already contact between me and J.J.," Boyega said in an interview with VMAN Magazine. “He was a big fan of 'Attack the Block' and we were waiting for a project where we could collaborate.”
Source: VMAN
Boyega and co-star Daisy Ridley have become close friends, and he nicknamed her Peanut, though she says that she also calls him that.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
According to Ridley, Boyega is obsessed with "The Lion King" and does impersonations, including Pinocchio from "Shrek."
Boyega is one of personal fitness trainer Corey Calliet's clients. Calliet told Business Insider, "So when I got with John, I did things with him in two weeks that they couldn't do throughout the whole film. If you see those last pictures that he took for the Hollywood Reporter and he looks lean and sleek, if you go back and look at pictures before that, like months before that, he didn't look like that. That's my doing."
Calliet recently trained Michael B. Jordan for his role in "Creed."
He also lends his voice to "Major Lazer," an animated series based on the electronic music group, which also stars J.K. Simmons and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. It has been renewed for a second season.
You can watch the first season on Hulu.
He will next appear in "The Circle," a sci-fi thriller starring Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and Karen Gillan.
Boyega cites Robert Downey Jr. as a mentor.
Golden advice and hilarious banter. @RobertDowneyJr and the bloom! pic.twitter.com/BcTEDoNw0n
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) October 21, 2015
“I’m being mentored by Robert Downey Jr. at the moment,” he told VMAN Magazine. “He’s helped me prepare for how my life is going to change and that has been inspiring. I’m talking to someone who understands the power of choices, both positive and negative.”
Source: VMAN
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