Fast Five with Chadwick Boseman

1. DRAMA DUDE

This Southern gentleman knew early on that he wanted to be in the film business. After getting his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, majoring in directing, from Howard University in Washington, DC in 2000, Boseman attended the British American Drama Academy in England.

The aspiring film-maker once told a New York radio station that he "only started acting because I wanted to know what the actors were doing, how to communicate with the actors".

2. CLAIM TO FAME

Although Boseman found recognition in the 2013 biopic 42, where he played major league baseball's first African-American player Jackie Robinson, it was playing the Godfather of Soul James Brown in 2014's Get On Up that won him acclaim, including Oscar buzz.

3. NEW KITTY ON THE BLOCK

Boseman is all set to break out in a big way after nabbing the coveted role of Black Panther, who made history as the first black superhero in mainstream American comics.

Black Panther, aka T'Challa, makes his big-screen debut in Captain America: Civil War, which opens in Singapore tomorrow. "You meet me as the Prince of Wakanda," Boseman told Marvel.com. "You meet me as a politician/monarch, not as a superhero. (But) I am already a Black Panther."

According to the comics, Black Panther is the ruler of the fictional Wakanda, a tiny yet supremely powerful African nation-state.

4. TEAM MARVEL

In Civil War, the Avengers are split into two camps - Team Cap and Team Iron Man. While Black Panther is leaning towards Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), apparently his character is "not on anybody's team".

The team the 39-year-old US actor is glad to be on is Team Marvel. Boseman told entertainment website Slashfilm that "everyone was very gracious in welcoming me on set, and even off set".

He added: "Chris (Evans, who plays Captain America) has been very cool in terms of inviting me to stuff... Robert has been great as well. Everybody's been cool."

5. SOLO SPIN-OFF

Black Panther may be a secondary character in Civil War and his special abilities of superhuman strength, speed, agility and senses may not have been fully showcased, but fans can look forward to more in the solo Black Panther movie due in 2018.

This article was first published on April 27, 2016.
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