Chadwick Boseman: 1976 - 2020

Actor Chadwick Boseman has passed away at 43. 

Internationally known as the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Chadwick Aaron Boseman was born in South Carolina in 1976. In his junior year of high school, he wrote his first play, and staged it at the school after a classmate was shot and killed. His early goals were to write and direct, and he graduated Howard University in 2000 studying directing. He later attended a summer program of the British American Drama Academy in London. 

In the early part of his career he lived in Brooklyn and worked as a drama instructor. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, and scored his first role on TV’s THIRD WATCH in 2003. He would appear in television episodes of LAW & ORDER, CSI:NY, and ER. 

His first feature film would come in 2008 in THE EXPRESS: THE ERNIE DAVIS STORY. In 2013, he would be cast as baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson in 42. Boseman and the film were well reviewed. He would follow that up with another role as a black icon; James Brown in GET ON UP in 2014. 

In 2016, he would make his first appearance as Prince T’Challa; the superhero Black Panther and future king of Wakanda in the MCU film CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. By taking on the character who was the first black superhero in comic book history, he planted the seeds for his rise to a civil rights icon. In 2017, he would play yet another real-life black hero, when he played Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice in MARSHALL. 

In 2018, he would make history when Marvel Studios released BLACK PANTHER to enormous success with critics, fans, and the box office. BLACK PANTHER became the first superhero film to receive a Best Picture nomination, and Boseman would win a Screen Actor’s Guild Award and an NAACP Image Award for his performance. He would reprise the role in two more MCU films; AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018), and AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019). 

Other notable roles included DRAFT DAY (2014), GODS OF EGYPT (2016), 21 BRIDGES (2019), and Spike Lee’s DA 5 BLOODS (2020). 

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Chadwick Boseman was a huge (understatement) representation for the black community. From adults to kids, he was an inspiration. He understood that responsibility, and as time passes, we will wonder what more he could have done. The enormity of what he carried for so many people was his motivator. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, and in the last four years he gave us four MCU films; acting in a physically demanding role. He was suffering during his entire run as the Black Panther, but no amount of pain could stop him from what he had to do; acting, red carpets, interviews, extensive travelling…the weight of it all and keeping his condition private must have been worldly. But much like his character, he carried it. That’s what heroes do. That’s what legends and kings and leaders do. For millions of fans his passing is a great loss, and now it’s on us to carry on what he started.