The latest MCU movie introduced us to Black Panther, the first stand-alone black superhero. And even though the movie was released less than two weeks ago, everyone already knows that it's a huge success. The audience loved it and it became one of the highest grossing superhero movies ever. Of course, it's because the movie is a monumental significance to the African culture, but it's not the only reason. Black Panther's success is also due to Chadwick Boseman, the great actor standing behind the main character.

But who is this man? We don't really know much about him, even though he's getting more and more attention since his casting. Somehow, he's been able to fly under the radar for quite a while, but not for long. It's high time to learn 15 facts about Chadwick Boseman.

15 He Likes His Privacy

Even though Chadwick Boseman has been an actor since the early 2000s, we still don't know much about him, and that's because the actor thinks that his private life shouldn't become public; he tries to keeps it as private as possible. He doesn't even answer questions about his love life, his plans to get married, or his vision for starting a family. "It's no one's business, really," Boseman says. "When you talk about that, you become a whole different type of celebrity. Your personal life bleeds into your professional life. I'm an actor, and you know me from who I play. You get a sense of who I am, but you don't know everything."

The man is right. When a celebrity shares their personal life facts, fans want more and more. And before you know it, you become deprived of anything private. So it's better not to even begin.

14 Born In South Carolina, He Knows About His Ancestry

Chadwick Boseman was born on November 29, 1977, in Anderson, South Carolina to the family of Carolyn and Leroy Boseman. His mother worked as a nurse, and his father was a businessman. His family wasn't wealthy, but they were happy to be together and loved each other.

At some point of his life, Boseman decided to learn about his ancestry and took a DNA test. It revealed that the actor's family descended from the West Africans. But it wasn't just some random test. It was the one that stated what particular ethnic group the person comes from. So Boseman learnt that his ancestors were from the Limba and Mende people of Sierra Leone, the Yoruba people of Nigeria, and the Jola people from Guinea-Bissau.

Wow, his family must have had quite an interesting history!

13 He Has A Big Family

According to Chadwick Boseman himself, he comes from a large family. "When my grandmother died, she left 115 grandkids and great grandkids. That was just one side," he stated in an interview with Mr. Porter.

Can you imagine that many people running around — that's huge! Just think about the way they celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with all those family members!

Of course, we're talking about the extended family, and it doesn't mean that Chadwick Boseman has dozens of siblings (which we don't know, because the man's really reserved). Most likely, the bigger part of these 115 grandkids and great grandkids are his cousins and other distant relatives. But still, it's a huge number. Can you imagine yourself to be a grandmother or grandfather to 115 grandkids and great grandkids? To tell you honestly, I can't!

12 He Was An Athlete At School

When Chadwick Boseman studied in high school, he played sports, like many other boys of his age. "I played Little League baseball, but I also played basketball," the actor shared in his interview with Vanity Fair. "Basketball was my primary sport. When you play basketball seriously, a lot of times, through the summer season, you continue playing. So that replaced me playing baseball. But I’ve always been an athlete and continued do additional athletic activities."

I think Boseman's love for sports helped him a lot when he was working on the role of Jackie Robinson, the baseball legend, in the movie 42 (2013). In fact, the actor gave a lot of time to preparation to play this role. After all, he realized that playing a legend was a great responsibility and wanted his work to be perfect.

11 He Received His Bachelors In Directing

Initially, Chadwick Boseman wasn't going to become an actor. He wanted to become a writer and director instead. Even when he was at school, he wrote and staged a play. Then Boseman went on to study to Howard University and majored in directing there. After graduating, he moved to Brooklyn and began pursuing his career — writing and directing small off-Broadway plays. Boseman decided to take acting courses only to better understand the actors better. "I really only started acting because I wanted to know what the actors were doing, how to communicate with the actors," he said.

At some point, the aspiring director realized that being in front of the camera was more interesting for him that directing from behind. Besides, he learned that he had a great acting talent. Thus, Chadwick Boseman's acting career began.

10 His Acting Career Started On TV

Chadwick Boseman's career, like that of many other actors, began on TV. He played minor roles in several TV shows, including Law & Order, CSI:NY, ER, Castle, Fridge, and others. You could see him in a recurring role in Lincoln Heights in 2008-2009 and in a regular role in Persons Unknown in 2010. Luckily for him (and for us), Boseman didn't remain a TV actor. His talent was noticed by directors and producers, and soon his movie career began.

The first movie Boseman played in was The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008), the film about a notable Syracuse University football player. Starting from the year 2013, he became more of an active actor, appearing in a number of movies based on real events. We'll talk more about it in the next entry!

9 He's Been In Many Biopics

If you take a look at Chadwick Boseman's filmography, you'll see that a good half of his movies are biopics. First, as it was mentioned in the previous entry, he played a small role in The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, a movie about an African American football player. And soon Boseman got a nickname: Biopic Man. He portrayed Jackie Robinson, a legendary baseball player, in 42; James Brown, the godfather of soul, in Get On Up; and Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in Marshall.

While promoting Get On Up, Boseman said that he didn't want to do another biopic any time soon. However, in a couple of years he landed the role of Thurgood Marshall, and there you have it, again he portrays a real-life hero! The actor also once admitted that he wanted to play Jimi Hendrix one day. We'll see...

8 At One Point, He Wanted To Quit Acting

At some point in his career, Chadwick Boseman wanted to quit acting and follow his initial passion: directing and writing scripts for movies. Back then, he was directing an off-Broadway play in New York's East Village. Evidently, Boseman liked to be involved in it very much and was even ready to stop going to auditions to devote all his time to being a director.

However, something seemed to tell him that he had to keep on trying and waiting for his big break to come. His talent was noticed, and he landed a number of good roles. Even if Boseman still wants to become a director, he can do it once in a while while still playing in movies. He's popular enough now to combine both professions. But, of course, due to Boseman's reserved nature, we have no idea if he plans on doing it.

7 He Criticized The Film He Played In

In 2016, the film Gods of Egypt was released and a lot of people criticized it for whitewashing. There was a reason for it, though; most of the cast were represented by Caucasian actors playing Egyptian people and deities. One of the few African American actors in the film was Chadwick Boseman playing Thoth, the God of Wisdom.

When Boseman learned about the critique toward the movie, he claimed that he initially thought that it could come up. "And I'm thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it," the actor said in an interview. "That's why I wanted to do it, so you would see someone of African descent playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, astronomy, the god of wisdom." Soon enough, the studio behind the film publicly apologized for their casting decisions, stating that they "failed to live up to our own standards of sensitivity and diversity."

6 He Didn't Have To Audition For 'Black Panther'

Due to his history of biopics and tremendous roles, Chadwick Boseman didn't even have to audition for Black Panther. After seeing the actor in Get On Up, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige knew that it was the man he wanted to see as King T'Challa. "I think it was 24 hours between saying his name in a creative story meeting and talking to his agent and getting on a phone with him and offering him the role of Black Panther, which he accepted," Feige recalled. The moment they called Boseman to offer the role, he was promoting Get On Up in Zurich, Switzerland. Without giving it too much thought, the actor agreed. But, as it often happens with big roles, they asked him to keep it secret.

It wasn't a problem for our secretive guy Chadwick, though. "I didn’t even tell my mom," he admitted later.

5 He Had To Train A Lot

Just like all other superhero actors, Chadwick Boseman had to train hard to get into shape and play Black Panther. The actor trained five days per week, and each training lasted for about an hour. He studied a number of martial arts, including Muay Thai, Capoeira, and Filipino martial arts. Boseman's trainer decided that since T'Challa was supposed to be the master of many, who could adapt to pretty much any kind of fight, so it was necessary to teach the actor to fight in a number of different ways.

But Boseman didn't limit himself only to the things his trainer offered him. "I studied that quiet strength, how the body exudes it," he shared. "I looked at Masai warriors, I watched the Shaka Zulu movies. And other leaders like Patrice Lumumba. Obama. I listened to Mandela’s speeches in my trailer." I'm sure that all these things helped him a lot, when he was portraying King T'Challa.

4 He Hated Wearing His Black Panther Suit At First

Most of the superhero suits are known to be extremely uncomfortable. Iron Man's suit was too heavy for Robert Downey Jr. to even wear it in full. Scarlett Johansson often complained that her Black Widow suit being too tight. And many other actors said similar things. Chadwick Boseman was one of them. Initially, he hated his skintight Black Panther suit. "It was suffocating. Literally, it closed off every possibility of air getting to you," the actor shared.

But later, he got used to it. Of course, it doesn't mean that the suit suddenly became comfortable. "I think it begins to feel like skin after a while," Boseman admitted. "But it takes time to get to that place." I wonder how he got himself into wearing this suffocating suit. Was he thinking about the outcome all the time? I mean, he knew how cool he was going to look in it!

3 He's Proud To Play T'Challa

T'Challa (aka Black Panther, aka the King of Wakanda), is the first ever stand-alone black superhero. And Chadwick Boseman is extremely proud to portray him.

Boseman is no stranger to seeing discrimination. He grew up in South Carolina — a state where discrimination, especially towards people of color, is not difficult to find. Recalling about his childhood, the actor said, "I know what it's like to be a kid at an ice-cream shop when some little white kid calls you [expletive], but your parents tell you 'Calm down!', because they know it could blow up."

Overcoming all these disgraceful challenges, and finally landing the role of the first stand-alone black superhero, Boseman realizes the importance of this character for the whole community. And he's glad to be part of the first superhero movie with a predominantly black cast.

2 He Insisted On Giving An African Accent To T'Challa

Chadwick Boseman wanted his character to speak with an African accent from the very beginning. Some people told him that it wasn't a good idea (it's good to know that none of those disapproving comments came from the Marvel Studios), but he proved them wrong.

"There was a time period where people would ask me questions about whether or not an audience could sit through a movie with a lead character that spoke with that accent," the actor recalled, being proud of the fact that he insisted on his request. He went on to add, "The intonations and melodies inside an African accent are just as classical as a British one or a European one."

At the moment, no one can argue that Boseman's African accent was very pleasant to listen to. So it's great that the actor insisted on giving it to the character.

1 He'll Remain In The Spotlight For Quite A While

Why do you think he'll be the spotlight? It's simple: Chadwick Boseman has just become an extremely popular actor, who'll probably get offers for multiple roles, where he'll show his talent even more. What's more, he's going to be around in more films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's known that Boseman signed a five-movie deal with Marvel, and we've only seen two of them (Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther). Next time we meet this actor and the superhero he portrays will be this May in Avengers: Infinity War.

We're all looking forward to seeing this and other appearances of Chadwick Boseman in the MCU, as well as in other movies. This man has a talent to show the world and he also has a number of secrets to share with his fans — if he ever desires the need to.