john boyega

Born in Peckham, a suburb of South London, on March 17, 1992, John Adedayo B. Adegboyega (his full name) comes from a family of Nigerian immigrants. His father, an evangelical preacher (specifically Pentecostal), dreamed that he would follow in his footsteps, but from a very young age, when he played a leopard in elementary school, the boy knew that acting was going to be his thing. .

With his work he caught the attention of Teresa Early, artistic director of Theater Peckham, an acting school for underprivileged children in the area, who offered him a place and financial aid. In 2008 she enrolled in Performing Arts at South Thames College. She ended up acting with the English National Theatre, in plays like “Six Parties.” “I have tried to give myself 200% always to interpretation. That is what distinguished me from my peers, ”she has declared. “I have prepared hard to achieve it, because you only live once. I think I have the passion to succeed.”

It would be decisive for his career Joe Cornish , television writer mugged by a gang of juvenile delinquents. Passionate about science fiction films such as ET, the extra-terrestrial , at that moment he began to imagine what would have happened if the attackers were interrupted by an event of a fantastic nature, taken from a science-fiction film. Thus , Attack the Block was born , although to play the lead he needed an unknown but expressive young actor. After a casting call of 1,500 people he saw heaven open when he auditioned for John Boyega.    

He played the leader of a teenage gang who assaults a nurse in a London slum. But at that moment, mysterious objects fall from the sky, a harbinger of an alien invasion. The film was well received by the public, and was praised by Quentin Tarantino himself .

He spent all the money he had to fly to Los Angeles, looking for a break in the movie mecca. She was given a supporting role opposite Kiefer Sutherland in 24 Live Another Day , but little else. “I tried to get a role in Kingsman , in Maleficent , in The Maze Runner … There were many projects that seemed like they would work and that didn’t come to fruition,” recalls the actor. “I had invested a lot of time and money, flying from London, even sold my iPad so I could support myself in Los Angeles.” So when he found out about the casting for the new Star Wars trilogy, he thought he should fight hard to participate. “At that point he was fed up with rejection. So I stood there with the feeling that they were going to have to beat me out if they didn’t give me the part. Luckily, everything has gone as it should.”

That is how they recruited him to play Finn, the hero of Star Wars: The Force Awakens , whose director JJ Abrams entrusted him, and his main co-stars, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac, with a complex task: to take the reins. of the action, with the classic characters of the saga as supporting characters. The move could not have gone better, since it obtained not only the expected success, but also the recognition of critics and fans, who in general believe that he recovered the magic lost in the prequels filmed by George Lucas . “I’m excited just to be in the Star Wars universe .. When he dies, I am sure to be a trending topic on Twitter! ”, jokes the young actor. “But also, this will open the doors of many projects for me.”

That’s how it went. Overnight, John Boyega went from being a poor devil few recognized, to one of the most sought after stars in Hollywood. He shared the screen with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks in The Circle , where he was the co-founder of a technology company that has relegated him to marginalization, a character inspired by Steve Wozniak, an engineer who set up Apple with Steve Jobs.

The first woman to receive an Oscar for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow , cast her as Melvin Dismukers, a security guard who tries to keep a supermarket from being looted during a dangerous race riot in Detroit . During the promotion, she became a great support for the director, when it was questioned that a white woman, from a good family, could reconstruct for the cinema an important story for the African-American community. “At first, I also had my doubts, but then I realized that she knew more than anyone about what happened. She had prepared conscientiously ”.

Getting Finn back, for Star Wars: The Last Jedi , was more complex than I expected. “There was a long time between the two tapes,” he recalls. “It’s been like retiring as a boxer and suddenly a fight breaks out. It’s hard to get in shape. It was hard to get used to it again.” Luckily, the film achieved even greater recognition than its predecessor.

With his friend, Femi Oguns, who acts as his agent, he founded his production company, UpperRoom, with which he says he hopes to give young aspiring actors opportunities. The company became involved in the launch of Pacific Rim: Uprising , sequel to the film directed in 2013 by Guillermo del Toro . He plays the central character, son of the one Idris Elba played in the original.

For the future, chapter IX, and last (for the moment), of Star Wars awaits you . He jumped for joy when Walt Disney announced that he was bringing back JJ Abrams as director . “I think he has returned to the saga above all… because he misses me!” He points out between laughs. “Besides, I think he’ll do a good job again.”