Via Telegraph.co.uk:

Director JJ Abrams wanted to cast relative unknowns for the new Star Wars film, and 23-year-old Peckham-born actor John Boyega fits the bill.

He is the lead role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens but very little is known about him.

Boyega was the first character to appear in the teaser trailer, wearing a Stormtrooper outfit, but with no helmet. Two weeks later Lucasfilm identified him as Finn, adding that he was “on the run”.

Here are five things you didn’t know about John Boyega and you can read the full story about the boy from Peckham who stormed Hollywood here.

1 He grew up on a council estate in Peckham

Boyega grew up on a council estate in Peckham, across the road from the estate where Damilola Taylor was stabbed in 2000.
Damilola, who was a similar age to Boyega and whose parents were also Nigerian, was discovered bleeding to death in a stairwell of North Peckham Estate just before his 11th birthday.
Another of Boyega’s peers, Samuel Ogunro, was found shot in the back of the head in a burning car in Peckham in 2010, when he was 17. His murder had been “arranged” by a south London gang member who was in prison at the time.

2 His acting career began age nine

His acting career began age nine, when the artistic director of Theatre Peckham saw him act in a primary school play.
Teresa Early said: “I saw him and thought, ‘Oh, that boy has something’,” she said.
Ms Early invited Boyega to join the theatre school, a special programme for talented children aged nine to 14, and, after securing financial assistance from a hardship fund, he enrolled.

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