In 2014, Boyega got his big break when Lucasfilm announced he’d been cast in the role of Finn, a Stormtrooper who set out to defeat The First Order in the latest Star Wars franchise film. News of Boyega’s casting ruffled a few feathers, launching the movement #BoycottStarWars. But it was the actor’s stance on race and diversity that won many over.
“”People of color and women are increasingly being shown on-screen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense,” Boyega told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
““We see through the eyes of children that they’re not talking about race the way we grown folks are. They’re not talking about color or how much melanin is in someone’s skin. That should teach us something…we’ve been having a continuous struggle with idiots, and now we should just force them to understand—and I love the way I just used ‘Force’ there, by the way—just force people to see that this is the new world. There are loads of people of different shades and backgrounds. Get used to it,” he continued.
Prior to his breakout role, Boyega landed a role alongside Denzel Washington in Joe Cornish’s sci-fi thriller, Attack the Block. He was just 19-years-old. After a brief stint on Fox’s “24: Live Another Day” miniseries, Boyega went on to star in films like the Nigeria-set romance, Half of a Yellow Sun and the Audience Award winner, Imperial Dreams, at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.