David Jonsson has won widespread acclaim for roles in Industry, Rye Lane and Wasteman. Photograph: Dean Chalkley/The Observer View image in fullscreen David Jonsson has won widespread acclaim for roles in Industry, Rye Lane and Wasteman. Photograph: Dean Chalkley/The Observer Film Profile David Jonsson: the London rising star handpicked to be the new Black Panther Jonsson has come a long way from east London’s Docklands, winning accolades on stage and screen
Prefer the Guardian on Google Few characters carry the cultural weight of Black Panther. Since 2018, the Wakandan king has become a global symbol of Black excellence, credited with reshaping expectations of representation on screen.
The first film grossed more than $1.3bn (£1bn) worldwide, won three Oscars and became the first superhero movie nominated for best picture.
Now, six years after the death of the film’s star, Chadwick Boseman, Marvel has found its next T’Challa: British star David Jonsson , who will play Boseman’s son in Black Panther 3.
The character’s grip on fans is so huge that when Jonsson was introduced on stage by director Ryan Coogler at Comic-Con in San Diego at the weekend, the crowd erupted into chants of “Wakanda forever”.
View image in fullscreen From left: Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Ryan Coogler, David Jonsson and Kevin Feige on stage at Comic-Con. Photograph: Richard Shotwell/AP According to Marvel, Coogler first suggested Jonsson for one of Hollywood’s most coveted blockbuster roles six months ago.
“He called me and said: ‘I found him’,” Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige recalled . “‘He’s this guy, David Jonsson.’”
It is a remarkable ascent for an actor who grew up in the east London Docklands, was expelled from school, and, only a few years ago, was best known for his part in the HBO/BBC banking drama Industry.
Coogler later told Feige he knew Jonsson was right for the role after meeting him privately following the completion of Sinners . “He’s the guy,” he said. “I felt it in my soul. He’s a good man, and he is the next Black Panther.”
View image in fullscreen Jonsson earlier this summer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Photograph: Jas Lehal/PA Jonsson, 32, grew up in Custom House in Newham, the youngest of four children. His father worked as an IT engineer at Heathrow, his mother worked for the Metropolitan police. He describes his heritage as Creole, with roots in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Caribbean and Sweden.
He has spoken of the upheaval that followed his parents’ separation when he was 11. He pushed boundaries at school and was eventually expelled for fighting as a teenager.
“I wasn’t a bad kid at all,” the self-described introvert told the Guardian . “I was just a bit … distracted at the time.”
View image in fullscreen Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther in the original film. It was around then that Jonsson told his mother – one of the first Black police community support officers in London – that he wanted to be an actor.
At a new school in Hammersmith, a 90-minute commute across the city, he began performing in school plays, and at 16 won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Returning to Britain two years later, he joined the National Youth Theatre before winning a place the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Jonsson left drama school early to join a revival of Mary Stuart opposite Juliet Stevenson, which transferred to the West End; his 2021 performance in And Breathe … at the Almeida won him a B…