Chadwick Aaron Boseman (November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020) was an American actor and producer. He played several historical figures, such as Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013), James Brown in Get on Up (2014), and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017). His role as the superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including in Black Panther (2018), made him an international star, winning him a NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
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Chadwick Boseman Wiki
| Name & Born |
Chadwick Aaron Boseman
November 29, 1976 Anderson, South Carolina, U.S.
|
|---|---|
| Died | August 28, 2020 (aged 43)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Howard University (BFA) British American Drama Academy |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2003–2020 |
| Spouse(s) | Taylor Simone Ledward |
Boseman’s other film roles included 21 Bridges (2019), which he also co-produced, and Da 5 Bloods (2020). His final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, will release posthumously on Netflix. He died on August 28, 2020 after privately dealing with colon cancer for four years.
Early life
Chadwick Aaron Boseman was born and raised in Anderson, South Carolina to Carolyn and Leroy Boseman, both African-American. According to Boseman, DNA testing indicated that his ancestors were Krio people from Sierra Leone, Yoruba people from Nigeria and Limba people from Sierra Leone.
His mother was a nurse and his father worked at a textile factory, managing an upholstery business as well. Boseman graduated from T. L. Hanna High School in 1995. In his junior year, he wrote his first play, Crossroads, and staged it at the school after a classmate was shot and killed.
Boseman attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. One of his teachers was Phylicia Rashad, who became a mentor.
She helped raise funds, notably from her friend and prominent actor Denzel Washington so that Boseman and some classmates could attend the Oxford Mid-Summer Program of the British American Drama Academy in London, to which they had been accepted.
Boseman wanted to write and direct and initially began studying acting to learn how to relate to actors. After he returned to the U.S., he graduated from New York City’s Digital Film Academy.
He lived in Brooklyn at the start of his career. Boseman worked as the drama instructor in the Schomburg Junior Scholars Program, housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. In 2008, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.
Boseman got his first television role in 2003, in an episode of Third Watch. That same year, Boseman portrayed Reggie Montgomery in the daytime soap opera All My Children, but stated that he was fired after voicing concerns to producers about racist stereotypes in the script; the role was subsequently re-cast, with Boseman’s future Black Panther co-star Michael B. Jordan assuming the role.
His early work included episodes of the series Law & Order, CSI:NY, and ER. He also continued to write plays, with his script for Deep Azure performed at the Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago; it was 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: The Ernie Davis Story. He landed a regular role in 2010 in another television series, Persons Unknown.
Boseman had his first starring role in the 2013 film 42, in which he portrayed baseball pioneer and star Jackie Robinson. He had been directing an off-Broadway play in East Village when he auditioned for the role, and was considering 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 the film 42.
In 2014, Boseman appeared 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. In 2016, he starred as Thoth, a deity from Egyptian mythology, in Gods of Egypt.
In 2016, he started portraying the Marvel Comics character T’Challa / Black Panther, with Captain America: Civil War being his first film in a five-picture deal with Marvel. He headlined Black Panther in 2018, which focused on his character and his home country of Wakanda in Africa.
The film opened to great anticipation, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year in the United States. He reprised the role in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Both films were the highest grossing of the year they were released, with Endgame going on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
Also in 2019, he starred in 21 Bridges, an American action thriller film directed by Brian Kirk, as an NYPD detective who shuts down the eponymous 21 bridges of Manhattan to find two suspected cop killers.
In 2019, it was announced that Boseman was cast in the Netflix war drama film Da 5 Bloods, directed by Spike Lee. The film was released on June 12, 2020.
Legacy
According to film critic Owen Gleiberman in Variety, “Boseman was a virtuoso actor who had the rare ability to create a character from the outside in and the inside out… Boseman knew how to fuse with a role, etching it in three dimensions… That’s what made him an artist, and a movie star, too.
Yet in Black Panther, he also became that rare thing, a culture hero…” The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote of the actor’s “beauty, his grace, his style, his presence… These made up Chadwick Boseman’s persona… loved among many things for his lightly worn imperiousness, humour and charm… Boseman becomes the lost prince of American cinema… glorious and inspirational…”
Personal life
Boseman was raised a Christian and was baptized. He was part of a church choir and youth group and his former pastor said that he still kept his faith. Boseman had stated that he prayed to be the Black Panther before he was cast as the titular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He was a vegetarian.
Boseman became engaged to singer Taylor Simone Ledward in 2019, and they later married.
Death
Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, which eventually progressed to a stage IV before 2020. He had not spoken publicly about his cancer diagnosis.
During treatment (multiple surgeries and chemotherapy), he continued to work and completed filming for several films, including Marshall, Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and others. Boseman died at his home of complications related to colon cancer on August 28, 2020, with his wife and family by his side.
Earlier in the year, fans were expressing concerns for Boseman’s health after he posted an Instagram video where he appeared to have lost weight.
Filmography Chadwick Boseman Wiki
| Film | |||||
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes | Ref. |
| 2008 | The Express: The Ernie Davis Story | Floyd Little | Gary Fleder | ||
| 2012 | The Kill Hole | Lt. Samuel Drake | Mischa Webley | ||
| 2013 | 42 | Jackie Robinson | Brian Helgeland | ||
| 2014 | Draft Day | Vontae Mack | Ivan Reitman | ||
| 2014 | Get on Up | James Brown | Tate Taylor | ||
| 2016 | Gods of Egypt | Thoth | Alex Proyas | ||
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | T’Challa / Black Panther | Anthony & Joe Russo | ||
| 2016 | Message from the King | Jacob King | Fabrice Du Welz | Also executive producer | |
| 2017 | Marshall | Thurgood Marshall | Reginald Hudlin | Also co-producer | |
| 2018 | Black Panther | T’Challa / Black Panther | Ryan Coogler | ||
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Anthony & Joe Russo | |||
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | ||||
| 2019 | 21 Bridges | Andre Davis | Brian Kirk | Also producer | |
| 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Norman Earl “Stormin’ Norm” Holloway | Spike Lee | ||
| TBA | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Levee | George C. Wolfe | Post-production; posthumous release | |
| Television | ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2003 | All My Children | Reggie Porter | Recurring role | |
| 2003 | Third Watch | David Wafer | Episode: “In Lieu of Johnson” | |
| 2004 | Law & Order | Foster Keyes | Episode: “Can I Get a Witness?” | |
| 2006 | CSI: NY | Rondo | Episode: “Heroes” | |
| 2008 | ER | Derek Taylor | Episode: “Oh, Brother” | |
| 2008 | Cold Case | Dexter Collins | Episode: “Street Money” | |
| 2008–2009 | Lincoln Heights | Nathaniel “Nate” Ray | 9 episodes | |
| 2009 | Lie to Me | Cabe McNeil | Episode: “Truth or Consequences” | |
| 2010 | Persons Unknown | Sergeant McNair | 13 episodes | |
| 2010 | The Glades | Michael Richmond | Episode: “Honey” | |
| 2011 | Castle | Chuck Russell | Episode: “Poof, You’re Dead” | |
| 2011 | Fringe | Mark Little / Cameron James | Episode: “Subject 9” | |
| 2011 | Detroit 1-8-7 | Tommy Westin | Episode: “Beaten/Cover Letter” | |
| 2011 | Justified | Ralph Beeman | Episode: “For Blood or Money” | |
| 2018 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | Episode: “Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B” | |
| 2021 | What If…? | T’Challa / Black Panther / Star-Lord | Final role Guest voice role; posthumous release |
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Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2017 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Captain America: Civil War | Nominated | |
| 2018 | MTV Movie & TV Awards | Best Performance in a Movie | Black Panther | Won | |
| Best Hero | Won | ||||
| Best Fight (Black Panther vs M’Baku) | Nominated | ||||
| Best On-Screen Team (with Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright and Danai Gurira) | Nominated | ||||
| 2018 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor | Nominated | ||
| 2019 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Won | ||
| 2019 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture | Won | ||
| Entertainer of the Year | Nominated | ||||
| 2020 | Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture | 21 Bridges | Nominated | ||
