By Savannah Cooks, Entertainment Editor & Staff Writer
Born on Nov. 29,1976, Chadwick Boseman is an American actor and playwright. He grew up in Anderson, S.C., where he practiced martial arts, eventually leading into his adult life. He attended Howard University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing and then studied at a summer program for acting at the Oxford Mid-Summer program in England.
In his early years, he spent a lot of his time in the theater industry. He wrote, directed, and has been a part of many performances. He won an AUDELO award for a 2002 play name Urban Transitions: Loose Blossom for his role as E.J. He was also a part of the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival where he wrote the plays Hieroglyphic Graffiti, Deep Azure, and Rhyme Deferred. Among everything else, he directed a short film named Blood Over a Broken Pawn. In 2008, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career in acting.
He is most notable for his role as the Black Panther in multiple Marvel Studio movies. He also portrayed many black people known for their contribution in African American history such as Jackie Robinson in the movie 42, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, and James Brown in Get on Up. Boseman has been nominated for 109 awards, 42 of which he won. Some influential ones are NAACP, BET, Critic’s Choice Award, and Screen Actor Guild Award.
On Aug. 28, 2020, Boseman unexpectedly passed away at the age of 43. He was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer in 2016 and battled with it for four years. Boseman kept his illness a secret, making his death a shocking one. Although he was dealing with this horrible disease, he still persevered through and produced multiple amazing films for our enjoyment.