After his break-out role as Jackie Robinson in ’42’ four years ago, Chadwick Boseman has been a stellar choice for a lot of movies such as ‘Marshall’, ‘Gods of Egypt’ and ‘Black Panther’. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the star, but here’s six facts to get you started.
Chadwick Boseman at ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ premiere
1. He has considered giving up acting for directing – He might be best known for his acting, having never directed anything major, but he initially wanted to be a filmmaker and only studied acting for the sake of being able to relate to actors. In fact, after a few small roles, he thought about directing full time – that was until he was offered the role of Jackie Robinson in 2013’s ’42’ while he was in the middle of directing his off-Broadway play in ‘East Village’.
2. Most of his acting work has been in biopics – Chadwick Boseman has a keen interest in telling real life stories. In fact, more than half of the feature-length films he has appeared in have seen him play real people, including James Brown in ‘Get On Up’ and Thurgood Marshall in ‘Marshall’.
3. He went to university in England – After graduating from Howard University in Washington, DC with a bachelor of fine arts in directing, he went to Oxford, UK to study at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford.
4. He is talented at basketball – He’s been shooting hoops since he was in high school, and still occasionally plays pick-up games. He was on Anderson’s 16-and-under AAU basketball team, and while he also loved baseball, it took up a lot of his time. Strangely enough, he’s done football moves and a baseball movie, but never basketball.
5. It’s his lifelong dream to play Jimi Hendrix – You might think landing the role James Brown would be the opportunity of a lifetime, but the musician Chad would really like to perform as is this 60s guitar god. ‘I would love to play Jimi Hendrix’, he once said in an interview.
More: Chadwick Boseman talks ‘Black Panther’ nation Wakanda
6. He’ll be the first black superhero with a Marvel film – With the forthcoming release of ‘Black Panther’ in 2018, he’ll become the first black hero of the Marvel world to get his own eponymous movie. It’s embarrassing that this ‘first’ comes so late for black culture, but we know Chad will make it worthwhile.
