The Life and Career of Chadwick Boseman

 The Life and Career of Chadwick Boseman

Good Evening, Everyone. I took the time today to talk about not just a man, but one of the best actors of the decade, Chadwick Boseman who passed away yesterday from a four-year battle with colon cancer.  

Born and raised in Anderson, South Carolina, his parents, Carolyn and Leroy Boseman are both African American. According to a DNA test, it indicated that his ancestors were part of the Krio people from Sierra Leone, Yoruba people from Nigeria and Limba people from Sierra Leone. So, yeah. He was the right choice to play Black Panther. Carolyn was a nurse while Leroy worked at a textile factory. He graduated from T.L. Hanna High School in 1995. During his junior year, he wrote his first play, Crossroads and staged it. He was raised Catholic and was baptized and was part of a church choir and youth group and was also a vegetarian. He then attended Howard University and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in directing. Three years later, he got his acting gig and appeared in an episode of Third Watch. That same year, he played Reggie Montgomery in All My Children but was fired due to concerns on the racial stereotyping in the script, the role was coincidentally re-cast with Michael B. Jordan stepping in the role. He also appeared in Law & Order, CSI:NY and ER.

He originally wanted to pursue directing but studied acting to learn how to relate to the actors. After returning to the U.S. from the British American Drama Academy in London,  he graduated from the New York Film Academy and then lived in Brooklyn and worked as an instructor at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. He then continued to write plays, with his script, Deep Azure being performed at the Congo Theatre Square Company in Chicago and was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award in 2006. In 2008, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, by getting a recurring role in Lincoln Heights, appeared in his first movie, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story and landed a recurring role in Persons Unknown. 

For his first starring role, Boseman played the role of baseball icon, Jackie Robinson, the first African-American MLB player in 42. He reportedly auditioned twice for the role and considered quitting acting to direct full-time but director, Brian Helgeland liked his audition and was then casted. He then played another African-American icon, The Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown in Get on Up.

His popularity only grew from there and he got the role of a lifetime by getting a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing King T'Challa/Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War and appeared in 3 more movies including his own solo movie and with Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest grossing movie of all time. In 2017, he starred as the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, which focused on one of his first cases, the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell. He also starred in 21 Bridges as an NYPD detective who shuts down all the bridges on Manhattan to find two cop killers and played a supporting role in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods. 

On the year that Civil War came out, Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, which progressed to stage IV before 2020 and never went public about his diagnosis. During countless chemotherapy sessions and surgeries, he stilled continued to act in his movies. On August 28th, he died peacefully at his home with his wife and family by his side. Earlier, he posted a video on Instagram where he appeared to look skinny which caused a lot of concern. 

Fans of the MCU, including myself, fellow celebrities including Angela Bassett, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson have payed tribute to the late actor. While Joe Biden and Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige have also payed tribute with the MLB, Howard University and the L.A. Dodgers posting a statement  on Twitter.

With his next movie, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom to be released sometime either this year or next year, his performance will hopefully draw in some award recognition as for the future of Black Panther 2, Shuri will most likely become the ruler of Wakanda taking his brother's place. His presence in the MCU will definitely be missed. 

In many ways, he was called a virtuoso actor with a rare ability to create any character and was a culture hero, by playing 4 African American icons. 

As this year couldn't be any more horrible, we've lost a true king and a legend of our generation. 

RIP Black Panther.

Alright, guys. That is the life and career of Chadwick Boseman

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