John Boyega photographed by Charlie Gates for The New York Times
As a boy in school, Mr. Boyega struggled to find his niche after failing with soccer and the cello. But a knack for plays prompted him to start training at the nearby Theatre Peckham, where he played a trickster leopard in an adaptation of the Caribbean folk tale “Ansari the Spider” and also appeared in a production of “Shrek.” “I wasn’t Shrek, I wouldn’t put myself through that,” he said. “I played Donkey for the comic relief. I found that I would gain more fans doing that.”
