Chadwick Boseman

Early life

Boseman was born in South Carolina, and raised in the city of Anderson, the son of Carolyn, a nurse, and Leroy Boseman, who owns an upholstery business. Boseman graduated from T. L. Hanna High School in 1995 and later graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC, in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. He also graduated from the British American Drama Academy in Oxford. Boseman wanted to write and direct, and initially began studying acting to learn how to relate to actors. While in New York he studied Digital Filmmaking at the Digital Film Academy.

From 2002 to 2007, Boseman was the drama instructor in the Schomburg Junior Scholars Program, housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in 2008.

Family

Career

Boseman got his first television role in 2003, in an episode of Third Watch. His early work included episodes of the series Law & Order, CSI:NY, and ER. He also continued to work as a playwright, with his script for Deep Azure, performed at the Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. In 2008, he played a recurring role on the television series Lincoln Heights and appeared in his first feature film, The Express. He landed a regular role in another television series, Persons Unknown, in 2010.

Boseman's first starring role came with the 2013 film 42, in which he played Jackie Robinson. Boseman had been directing an off-Broadway play in East Village when he auditioned for the role; he had considered giving up acting and pursuing directing full-time at the time. About 25 other actors had been seriously considered for the role, but director Brian Helgeland liked Boseman's bravery and cast him after he had auditioned twice. In 2013, Boseman also starred in the indie film The Kill Hole, which was released in theaters a few weeks before 42.

In 2014, Boseman appeared in two more films. He co-starred opposite Kevin Costner in Draft Day, in which he played an NFL draft prospect. Later that year, he starred as James Brown in Get on Up, a performance that received widespread critical acclaim. Boseman starred as Thoth, a deity from Egyptian mythology, in Gods of Egypt (2016). He played the Marvel Comics character T'Challa / Black Panther in the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War, the first in a five-picture deal with Marvel. He also starred in Black Panther film in 2018.