John Boyega

John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), is a British-Nigerian actor and producer. He initially rose to prominence for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film Attack the Block (2011) and later became best known for playing Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). His other credits include the drama film Imperial Dreams (2014), the historical drama film Detroit (2017), the science fiction film Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), and four episodes of the television series 24: Live Another Day. He received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016.

John Boyega
Boyega in July 2015
Born
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega

(1992-03-17) 17 March 1992
Lambeth, London, England
NationalityBritish Nigerian
OccupationActor, producer
Years active2011–present

Early life

Boyega was born John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega in the Peckham district of London on 17 March 1992, the son of Abigail (née Aboderin), who works with disabled people, and Samson Adegboyega, a Pentecostal minister.[1] He has two older sisters.[2] His parents are both of Nigerian descent.[3] His first acting role was as a leopard in a play while at Oliver Goldsmith Primary School.[4][5] While acting in another play there at the age of nine, he was noticed by Teresa Early, the artistic director of Theatre Peckham, a learning theatre for young people who live in south London. He spent his time there outside school hours between the ages of nine and 14. Boyega's father wanted Boyega to become a minister like himself, but was nonetheless supportive of his theatrical interests.[6][7][8][9]

In 2003, Boyega started his secondary education at Westminster City School, where he took part in various school productions.[10] Between 2008 and 2010, he attended South Thames College at the college's Wandsworth campus to study for a National Diploma in Performing Arts.[11] His activities at the college included playing the title role in the college's production of Othello.[12] He enrolled at the University of Greenwich to study for a BA in film studies and media writing,[13] but dropped out to focus on acting.[7] He trained with the Identity School of Acting in London, and became a patron of its Los Angeles branch when it opened in 2018.[14]

Career
Sundance Film Festival, 2014: John Boyega (2nd from the left), together with Josh Wiggins, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Sharon Swart (from the left to the right)

Boyega trained at the Identity School of Acting in Hackney,[15] and appeared in Six Parties at the National Theatre and Category B at the Tricycle Theatre prior to being offered a role in the 2011 film Attack the Block.[16][17] In September 2011, HBO announced that Boyega had been cast in the boxing drama pilot Da Brick, loosely based on Mike Tyson's life. Boyega was expected to play Donnie, who is released from a juvenile detention centre on his 18th birthday and begins to examine what it means to be a man. The pilot was written by John Ridley,[18] but was not picked up by HBO.[19] Also in 2011, he acted in the film Junkhearts in which he portrayed Jamal, a drug dealer who finds some guns and tries to sell them.

Boyega was chosen by Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International as one of the "UK Stars of Tomorrow 2011" and appeared alongside two other actors on the front cover of that magazine in its July 2011 edition.[20] In March 2012, Boyega was cast in the film adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book Half of a Yellow Sun.[21] On 29 April 2014, it was confirmed that Boyega had been cast as a lead character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[22] It was later revealed Boyega would play Finn, a stormtrooper for the First Order, who leaves the military power after witnessing their cruelty in his first combat mission before joining the fight against them. The film was released on 18 December 2015. Both the film and Boyega's performance received acclaim from both audiences and critics.[23][24]

In 2017, Boyega starred in Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow's film about the 1967 Detroit riots.[25] The same year, he reprised his role as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.[26]

In January 2016, Boyega formed his own production company, Upperroom Entertainment Limited. His company co-produced Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), the sequel to the 2013 movie Pacific Rim, alongside Legendary Entertainment.[27] Boyega also starred in the lead role of the film, Jake Pentecost.[28] In 2019 John teased his new collaboration with Writer/Director Sebastian Thiel [29]. The two are in development of a series based on their childhood experiences, which Boyega will be producing [30]

In November 2018 it was announced that Boyega would be starring alongside Letitia Wright in a novel adaption of Hold Back the Stars.[31] Boyega has also been cast in Steve McQueen's upcoming mini-series Small Axe.[32]

In 2018, Boyega subsequently reprised his role as Finn in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019. During an interview with Good Morning America, Boyega acknowledged that he had accidentally left his script in a hotel room during filming. The script subsequently surfaced on eBay but was bought by a Lucasfilm employee to prevent it from being leaked.[33]

In the 2020 Powerlist, Boyega was listed in the Top 100 of the most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent.[34]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Director Notes
2011 Attack the Block Moses Joe Cornish Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble
Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer
Nominated – Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer
Nominated – Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer
Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year
Junkhearts Jamal Tinge Krishnan
2013 Half of a Yellow Sun Ugwu Biyi Bandele
2014 Imperial Dreams Bambi Malik Vitthal
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens FN-2187 / Finn J. J. Abrams BAFTA Rising Star Award[35]
Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer[36]
Nominated – Georgia Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble[37]
Nominated – Golden Schmoes Award for Breakthrough Performance[38]
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Action Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Ensemble
Nominated – Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor[39]
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor[40][41]
2017 The Circle Ty James Ponsoldt
Detroit Melvin Dismukes Kathryn Bigelow
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Finn Rian Johnson Nominated – Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Sci-Fi/Fantasy
2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Jake Pentecost Steven S. DeKnight Also producer
2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Finn J.J. Abrams
2020 Naked Singularity[42] TBA Chase Palmer Post-production[43]

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Da Brick Donnie Pilot
2011 Becoming Human Danny Curtis 4 episodes
2011 Law & Order: UK Jamal Clarkson Episode: "Survivor's Guilt"
2012 My Murder Shakilus Townsend Television film
2013 The Whale William Bond Television film
2014 24: Live Another Day Chris Tanner 4 episodes
2015 Major Lazer Blkmrkt (voice) 10 episodes
2015 Saturday Night Live Himself Segment: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Screen Tests"
2016 Tinkershrimp & Dutch[44] Dutch (voice) 5 episodes
2017–2018 Star Wars Forces of Destiny Finn[45] 2 episodes
2018 Watership Down Bigwig (voice) 4 episodes
2019 Serengeti Narrator Documentary series[46]
2020 Small Axe Leroy Logan Mini-series, post-production[32]

Stage
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Othello Othello South Thames College
2017 Woyzeck Woyzeck Old Vic Theatre[47]

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2015 Disney Infinity 3.0 Finn Voice
2016 Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Finn Voice
2017 Star Wars Battlefront II Finn Voice

Theme park attractions
Year Title Role Notes
2015 Star Tours – The Adventures Continue Finn Scene added for seasonal Season of the Force promotion
2019 Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Disney's Hollywood Studios
2020 Disneyland

Political activism and other views

John Boyega has expressed sympathy for George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, and Stephen Lawrence during a speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Hyde Park, London. Boyega was praised by other celebrities including fellow Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams, Edgar Wright, Olivia Wilde and Charlie Brooker. Lucasfilm has also reiterated its support for Boyega and the Black Lives Matter cause.[48][49][50]

gollark: Yes, well.
gollark: And just randomly tries different things until I say that they look less wrong.
gollark: Oh, and he is apparently entirely incapable of generalization or remembering things from more than 15 seconds ago.
gollark: He doesn't understand some things, which is fine I guess, but he also doesn't seem to understand the things he needs to understand to understand those things either, and seems to think he's done with things when the arbitrary computer marking thing™ says so even when it's repeatedly blatantly wrong, and wants me to just give him answers so he'll apparently learn from them.
gollark: Trying to explain "algebraic proof" to Zachary is so intensely frustrating.

References
  1. Itzkoff, Dave (22 July 2011). "John Boyega in Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block'". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  2. Hattenstone, Simon (10 March 2018). "John Boyega: 'I'm very direct. I can't lie'". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  3. Okoroafor, Cynthia (17 December 2015). "Star Wars opens today, and star Nigerian John Boyega is stealing the spotlight". VENTURES AFRICA. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  4. "The Attack of John Boyega". Interview. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  5. Brown, Emma (28 January 2014). "John Boyega: The Best of Next". Interview. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  6. Palmer, Jim (8 December 2015). "Everything you need to know about John Boyega – from Peckham to Wandsworth to Greenwich to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens". News Shopper. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  7. Turner, Camilla (24 April 2015). "Star Wars: John Boyega, the boy from Peckham who stormed Hollywood". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. Turner, Camilla (25 April 2015). "Star Wars: Five things you didn't know about John Boyega". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  9. "Theatre Peckham". Theatre Peckham. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  10. "Memorable OWCs". Old Westminster Citizens' Association. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  11. "From South Thames to Star Wars: college star lands role in a Galaxy Far Far Away". South Thames College. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  12. "Back to college for Star Wars actor". South Thames College. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  13. "The Force is strong with Greenwich". University of Greenwich. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  14. Wiseman, Andreas (20 September 2018). "John Boyega, Letitia Wright & Damson Idris Among Patrons Of New LA Drama School". Deadline. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  15. "Hall of Fame". identitydramaschool.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  16. "Attack the Block feature item". dvd365.net. 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  17. Yamato, Jen (1 August 2011). "Attack the Block's John Boyega on Going 'From Hoodie to Hero,' and Taking Hollywood by Storm". Movieline. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  18. Wightman, Catriona (1 September 2011). "John Boyega to star in Mike Tyson, Spike Lee HBO pilot 'Da Brick' – US TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  19. Jeffery, Morgan (14 March 2012). "'Da Brick': HBO passes on Mike Tyson boxing drama – US TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  20. "Stars of Tomorrow 2011". Screen Daily. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  21. Pearson, Ben (29 March 2012). "Attack the Block star John Boyega joins Half of a Yellow Sun". Filmonic. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  22. "Star Wars: Episode VII Cast Announced". StarWars.com. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  23. Bradshaw, Peter. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens review – 'a spectacular homecoming'". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  24. McWeeny, Drew (16 December 2015). "Review: JJ Abrams breathes new life into 'Star Wars' with 'The Force Awakens'". HitFix. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  26. Cohen, Sandy (15 December 2017). "John Boyega talks 'Last Jedi,' personal parallels". The Advocate. Associated Press.
  27. @JohnBoyega (6 June 2016). "So happy! My company UpperRoom Productions founded by myself & @MrFemiOguns, will co-produce #PacificRim2 alongside @Legendary" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  28. Fleming, Mike (6 June 2016). "'Star Wars' Star John Boyega Takes Lead In 'Pacific Rim' Sequel". Deadline. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  29. "John Boyega talks Pacific Rim Uprising, the future of Star Wars and his issues with buses". Time Out London. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  30. "Actor John Boyega". Viceland. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  31. Galuppo, Mia (8 November 2018). "John Boyega, Letitia Wright to Star in Sci-Fi Love Story 'Hold Back the Stars'". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  32. Clarke, Stewart (26 June 2019). "Letitia Wright, John Boyega to Star in Steve McQueen's Series 'Small Axe' (exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  33. McCarthy, Kelly (27 November 2019). "Actor John Boyega admits 'Star Wars' script on eBay was his". Good Morning America. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  34. Mills, Kelly-Ann (25 October 2019). "Raheem Sterling joins Meghan and Stormzy in top 100 most influential black Brits". mirror. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  35. BAFTA Editors (5 January 2016). "EE Rising Star Award in 2016". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  36. John Nugent (11 March 2016). "Jameson Empire Awards 2016: Star Wars and Mad Max lead the nominations". Empire Awards. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  37. Georgia Film Critics Association Editors (4 January 2016). "Georgia Film Critics Association 2015 Awards". Georgia Film Critics Association. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  38. Berge Garabedian (8 January 2016). "Golden Schmoes 2015 Awards". Golden Schmoes. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  39. Lovett, Jamie (18 February 2016). "Kids' Choice Awards: Adele, Justin Bieber, 'Star Wars' Among Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  40. "Saturn Award nominations". Saturn Awards. 24 February 2016.
  41. "Saturn Award nominations on YouTube". Saturn Awards. 24 February 2016.
  42. Olivia Cooke Joins John Boyega In Scott Free’s ‘Naked Singularity’
  43. "After Yang" (PDF). NYC Media & Production. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  44. Sarah Deen (5 January 2016). "John Boyega joins Nickelodeon's Tinkershrimp & Dutch". Metro.co.uk.
  45. Errico, Marcus (3 July 2017). "New Star Wars Cartoon Shorts Debut Online, Bringing Female Heroes in Full Force". Yahoo!. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  46. "Serengeti". BBC. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  47. "John Boyega to star in Woyzeck at the Old Vic Theatre". Tuppence Magazine. 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  48. Ritman, Alex (3 June 2020). "John Boyega Delivers Impassioned Speech at London Black Lives Matter Protest". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  49. Shoard, Catherin (4 June 2020). "John Boyega's rousing Black Lives Matter speech wins praise and support". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  50. "Lucasfilm Stands with John Boyega". StarWars.com. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
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