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Not much in Chadwick Boseman\u2019s early life would lead you to think he would become an actor. Not his birthplace (Anderson, South Carolina), not his family (his mom was a nurse, his dad an upholstery business owner), not his interests (he was the quiet one who played sports). Not one thing, it seems, except he just decided.\n\nA sad incident in his last years of high school prompted him to write and then direct his first play, after which he simply decided that\u2019s what he\u2019d do. He studied at Howard University and later at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, and in short order, commenced writing plays: His 2006 Deep Azure was nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work, and the Chicago Tribune called it \u201cFascinating\u2026Especially because the 28-year-old Boseman is a fresh talent \u2013 a young, sophisticated African-American writer with all of the flaws that flow from youth and inexperience and all of the excitement that draws from those very same places. With a slate of cultural references complex enough to encompass the likes of jazz-speak, Shakespeare, Hebrew, Louis Farrakhan and Spider-Man, Boseman offers a creative, slick and arresting employment of theatrical language and imagery.\u201d\n\nBut Boseman had also taken some taking acting classes in college. At the time, it was just to learn how to work with actors, but in 2008 he decided he was ready to become one himself. He got a few TV parts here and there (L&O, Lincoln Heights, Persons Unknown), but film parts \u2013 many of which he was sure he\u2019d get \u2013 eluded him. One of those was in Django Unchained. Boseman wasn\u2019t cast, but after his audition, director Quentin Tarantino told his casting director, \u201cThat guy is going to be something.\u201d But what? Those were lean years, and Boseman was on the verge of re-committing to the stage. That\u2019s when he got the call to read for 42, playing Jackie Robinson opposite Harrison Ford. Director Brian Helgeland tells a story of his audition: \u201c[Boseman] came in and said, \u2018You\u2019re either going to like me or not, and we\u2019re going to know in five minutes.\u2019 He had to play one of the bravest men who ever lived, so I thought that he came in brave was a great indication.\u201d\n\nIt was brave, considering Robinson himself had played the role in 1950\u2019s The Jackie Robinson Story. Most reviewers felt Boseman did the better job. His bravery was put to the test again when he was asked to audition for the role of James Brown in 2014\u2019s Get On Up. Boseman hesitated (the moves alone would\u2019ve scared even more flexible men), but director Tate Taylor knew it was about more than the Mashed Potato. He needed to see Boseman play Brown in his 60s. \u201cThat was the Achilles heel of the whole project,\u201d Taylor told The Guardian in 2015. \u201cI thought, if this isn\u2019t perfect, we will fail, and the whole tone will be wrecked. I need the best fucking actor I can find... and he nailed it.\u2019\u201d Variety agreed, calling his performance faultless. \u201cChadwick Boseman plays Brown from age 16 to 60 with a dexterity and invention worthy of his subject. We have a chance to see this remarkable actor in full bloom, whether he\u2019s giving life to Brown\u2019s signature dance moves\u2026or burrowing deep into the performer\u2019s tortured, little-boy-lost soul. He feels Brown from the inside out, the way Brown felt his own distinctive rhythms, and even when the movie itself seems to be on autopilot, Boseman never leaves the captain\u2019s chair.\u201d\n\nSuddenly, Boseman seemed the go-to guy for movies about iconic black figures. It\u2019s something he initially resisted, but this month finds him in Marshall, a biographical thriller about the first African-American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and one of the first cases in his career. Boseman is obviously in possession of a strong will, but like most real artists, he\u2019s powerless when it comes to a great story.\n\nHis most iconic character yet may actually be fictional. Last year he joined Marvel\u2019s blockbuster Captain America: Civil War as T\u2019Challa/Black Panther, a brilliant scientist and king of the unconquerable African nation of Wakanda, not to mention a shrewd tactician and fighter. As the first in a five-picture deal with Marvel, it\u2019s of no small significance to Boseman\u2019s career. So is the fact that he\u2019ll be the first black superhero starring in his own Marvel film when Black Panther premieres in 2018. NPR said his \u201cregal performance\u201d in Captain America \u201cmakes you wish it were arriving sooner.\u201d If \u201cyou\u201d means the 90 million people who watched the film\u2019s teaser trailer within four hours of its release, that sounds about right.\n\nBut back to that decision to write and direct. Boseman has said he\u2019s learned you have to choose a clear point of entry to the business, but once you define yourself, you can go into other arenas. That\u2019s good, because we need artists like him pushing from behind the camera as well. However he decides to tell his stories, we\u2019re listening.