*The story of the 23 year old John Boyega

John Boyega in Star Wars costume as Finn

Londoner John Boyega is likely to be Britain’s next acting superstar after he was handpicked to be Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Finn is a stormtrooper in the film, a character in danger, who reacts to that danger in a unique way.

The 23-year-old’s path to Hollywood started on a tough Peckham estate where his own life was touched by one of the capital’s most notorious murders, that of the 10-year-old Damilola Taylor. The Taylors and Boyegas were family friends, living in the
then notorious North Peckham Estate.

The children attended the Oliver Goldsmith Primary School.

Peckham became renowned for gang violence and one of John’s peers Samuel Ogunro, was shot in the head in an ordered hit by a rival in 2010.

School friend Demi Rump, 22, told the Telegraph this year: ‘A lot of boys in his year are now in prison or dead.

‘Everyone was going down one route towards the end of school, taking drugs, selling drugs, gangs, that sort of thing, but John went down another. I am so thankful he got out of it’.

John Boyega’s stable family life helped him stay out of trouble and discovered a passion, and great talent, for acting.

John with Nollywood big boys, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Samuel L Jackson

His mother is a carer while his father Samson is a pastor and his preaching, and deep faith, inspired him to act.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly John said: ‘Honestly, when I was younger, I always thought, where did I get this acting bug from? Because pretty much everyone in my family is ministers or helpers in some sense, but after seeing my dad preach, I was just like, you know what? I get it from this guy. He acts out different scenes, and he’s a real charismatic individual, so perhaps I got one percent of that’.

Friends say that the young British actor worked hard at school and always avoided the gang life that some of his peers chose.

Teresa Early, who invited John to the local theatre school when he was 12, said: ‘His father was a preacher and he wanted him to be a preacher too. I had a chat with John’s father when he was about 12 or 13.

‘As long as John stayed out of trouble they were quite happy. And as John made his way, his father began to think there was some wisdom in it.’

Having studied at the Identity School of Acting in East London, John went on to appear in various small plays before landing a role in Becoming Human – the web spin-off BBC Three’s Being Human.

Samson Boyega: dad of John Boyega

Abigail Boyega: mother of John Boyega

The same year, in 2011, the actor landed a guest spot in Law & Order UK as well as his first feature role in British sci-fi comedy Attack The Block.

John played Moses, the leader of a teen gang terrorising the residents of a South London council estate.

John went on to star in British drama Junkhearts opposite Eddie Marsan and Romola Garai, and landed the lead role in Spike Lee and Oscar-winner John Ridley’s HBO drama pilot Da Brink.

Sadly the TV series, based on the early life of Mike Tyson aspiring to become a boxer in a supposedly post-racial America, did not get picked up by the network.

The following year he starred in the TV Movie My Murder, then opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton in the period romantic drama Half Of A Yellow Sun set during the Nigerian Civil War of the Sixties.

But his biggest break came after Star Wars director J.J. Abrams made him first choice to be Finn in the highly anticipated trilogy.

More than 100million people have watched the two teaser trailers showing John in a stormtrooper’s uniform and also running from an explosion in the desert.

The star remains close to his family, but he would not even tell them about the plot of the upcoming Star Wars films.

*Culled from Mail Online