There’s a long list of talent across sports, music, and film with many striving to bring as many issues to light as possible – big waves were made back in 2018 when Sean Levey became the first black jockey to win a British Classic bringing a bit of change to a sport which has remained eerily similar for a century and bringing a lot of interest as fans learn more about the Melbourne Cup horses for upcoming races. Other athletes such as Lewis Hamilton has led to a big push for change in Formula 1 in recent years, and combat athletes like Claressa Shields have done the same to further raise attention.
For movies in particular, there has been a huge amount talent show fantastic performances both on the screens and behind the cameras with some truly inspired performances to boot – but which have been some of the most iconic displays on screen and who has put in the work to bring the screen to life?
LaKeith Stanfield
Whilst having some smaller roles throughout the late noughties and early teens, Stanfield would find his first real breakout performance as Snoop in Straight Outta Compton – whilst only a small role, it certainly did help lead to fantastic follow up performances such as Andre in Get Out, Cherokee Bill in The Harder They Fall, and Darius in Atlanta too. Even in smaller roles, Stanfield is able to capture the audience attention and looks to have an exciting future ahead with big roles that will almost certainly come.
(Image from buzzfeed.com)
Chadwick Boseman
Tragically lost in 2020 at the age of 43, Boseman brought some fantastic performances to the screen during his tenure including a movie which was a game changer for cultural significance. Boseman was able to bring some fantastic characters to life with the real story of Jackie Robinson in 42, depicting James Brown in Get on Up, and his most well-known character of T’Challa in the Marvel series with the cap being the Black Panther movie. These iconic performances certainly did lead to a change in cinema that looks to be sticking around with some huge releases since.
Idris Elba
A leading actor for near three decades, Elba has brought some fantastic performances to the screen whilst also being an accomplished DJ too. He had starred recently alongside Stanfield in The Harder They Fall but was able to gain his chops as Russel ‘Stringer’ Bell on The Wire from 2002-2004, and as troubled police officer DCI John Luther in the title series that has run from 2010-2019. Whilst there are some fantastic older actors in t he community, Elba seems to be in the perfect position to bridge the gap between the younger and older audiences, and always brings something great to the screen.
Jordan Peele
Although having had a fantastic comedy career and some great acting roles too, Peele has shown his true talent behind the camera as both director and producer and has helped bring two of the best horror movies to screen and giving the chance for other talent to shine too – both Get Out and Us are standout movies in their own right, helping actors such as Daniel Kaluuya get nominated for an Oscar. Peele looks to continue building on this too with his latest offering, Nope, also featuring Kaluuya with support from Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun too.
The list of fantastic performances could go on with some of the other greats that are just emerging or may be coming to the closing stages of their career, but there’s no shortage of iconic names bringing the big screen to life time and time again.
