10 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars' John Boyega

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He might be might be soon appearing in a galaxy far, far away, but John Boyega was brought up on a council estate in South London. He drew on his upbringing for his character in Attack The Block, telling Movieline: “I've lived in South London all my life, but obviously there's a difference between living there and being a part of there. It's just something you see every day, if you get to a certain area, you live in a certain area, you're going to be exposed to certain things. You know, urban culture is fun, it's lovely. You have fun elements to it, you have dark elements, you have light elements.”

While you probably first saw him in Attack The Block, his first acting role came aged just five, when he played a leopard in a school play, crawling around on all fours. He took the part pretty seriously as well— “I gave him character breakdown, and I was doing the work and doing the research and creating a character,” he told Interview Magazine. “That is the greatest feeling ever. When you're young and you're like, ‘Oh, this is quite cool, and I really, really want to do this.’”

Attack The Block was Boyega’s big break, but it was far from his first acclaimed role. He’d been acting since he was a kid, studying at the Identity School of Acting in Hackney, and performed in plays at some of London’s most respected theatres, including Six Parties at the National Theatre and Category B at the Tricycle Theatre.

When Attack The Block started to blow up in the US,  that getting to sample the food stateside was one of the key perks. "McDonald's {in America} is a big highlight for me" Boyeda told Movieline. "You do things differently. Seriously. I mean, I asked for a burger and they give me a tank. It's like, 'Wow, you guys eat!' I really respect that. We don't have the little thing where you can refill your drinks. We don't have that! I've been on Sunset. I went to the Griddle Café. Oh, man. I had an Oreo pancake. It was heavenly. I don't want to go back {home} now, just because of that pancake."

He might have a headline role in one of the biggest nerd properties ever, but his own fanboy love falls elsewhere. He’s a self professed fan of manga and  Marvel Comics, and even tweeted about wanting to play the role of Black Panther in The Avengers. That role has ended up going to Chadwick Boseman, but with Disney owning both Star Wars and Marvel, we can see him wearing a mask and cape at some point in the near future.