Dr.  Benjamin Solomon Carson was born in Detroit on September 18, 1951, where he and his big brother, Curtis Carson, were raised by a single-mom. Dr. Carson, who realized his childhood dream of becoming a physician, recently retired as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a groundbreaking career of over 35 years.

Now a Washington Times columnist and Fox News contributor, he is also the author of numerous New York Times best-sellers, including Gifted Hands, an autobiography which was made into a feature-length film starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. More recently, he co-wrote America the Beautiful and now One Nation with his wife Candy Carson.

A former member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, Dr. Carson is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He and his wife founded the Carson Scholars Fund, an organization dedicated to recognizing the academic achievements of deserving young people.  

Tonya Williams was born in London, England.  Her parents are Jamaicans.  Her father is a deceased retired judge who used to serve at the Supreme Court for Saint Kitts, British Virgin Islands and most of the Leeward Islands.  Her mother is a retired registered nurse. Tonya Williams grew up in their beautiful West Indian island from the age of one until six.  During that time, she started ballet at three years old and piano when she was five.  Her parents legally separated when she was six.  Ms.  Williams moved back to England (in Birmingham) with her mother.  There she continued to study ballet and piano.  In addition, she started studying tap dancing.  At the age of 12, she settled down with her mother in Canada.  While in high school, she took a modeling course and when it ended, an agent started to represent her for fashion work and TV.  After high school, Ms.  Williams took a year off and continued to work as a model and actress.  She then auditioned and got into Toronto’s Ryerson University in the Drama program.  One of the policies of the program was that she could not continue to work in the entertainment industry.  After one year at Ryerson, Ms.  Williams booked the lead role in the play “Love and Politics”.  In order to be part of it, she left the Drama program and the rest was history.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri on September 10, 1982, Misty Copeland is a soloist at the American Ballet Theatre. A recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, she is also an inductee into the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame.

She lives in New York City and can be visited online at www.MistyCopeland.com  and followed on Twitter at @mistyonpointe. Here, she talks about her memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.

Kam Williams: Hi Misty [Copeland], thanks for the interview. I really enjoyed your autobiography.

Misty Copeland: Thank you.

KW: What inspired you to write it at such a young age?

MC: I didn’t expect it to happen this soon, but it seemed like the right time when I was approached by Simon and Schuster, based on the way it was presented to me. It wasn’t going to be an end-all to me career, like “This is what I’ve done.” Rather, it’s more focused on how I feel about all my experiences in life and what I’ve learned from them, while I’m still in the midst of my career. So, it’s almost like I’m sharing that, inviting people into my world and bringing them along on a journey that I’m still on.     

Alexis Wilson was born in the Netherlands. Dancing has always been part of her life.  Actually, she started doing it as soon as she learned to walk.  Her parents, renowned African-American director/choreographer Billy Wilson and Dutch prima ballerina Sonja Van Beers, were stars in Europe with The National Ballet of Holland (now called The Dutch National Ballet).  In 1960, Mr.  Wilson created the title role Othello of the highly respected choreographer Serge Lifar.  This role made Bill Wilson into an international ballet star.  Later, in the Sixties, Alexis Wilson’s parents went to the U.S. to found the Dance Theater of Boston.  Years later, after the couple divorced, Alexis Wilson moved to New York City with her brother and father. At eleven years old, Alexis Wilson started to study classical ballet seriously at The New York School of Ballet.  She became the youngest dancer, performing with their small company (The U.S. Terpsichore) in their adaptation of Giselle.  Alexis Wilson benefited from a full scholarship to pursue a professional path as a dancer. At the age of fourteen, she joined DTH (The Dance Theater of Harlem) as an apprentice dancing in the ballets The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Swan Lake and Dougla.

Later, she swiftly moved on to become a featured dancer in the Emmy Award winning television special Blues and Gone. After appearing as a dancer in the Francis Ford Coppola film, “The Cotton Club”, she earned a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in drama from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1985.  Hereafter, she went to Europe where she was involved in concerts and dance festivals.  She came back to the U.S. in the early 90s.  She became a dancer in New York for the Essence Awards choreographed by Michael Peters (who also worked on Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Beat It, and many others).  In addition, she taught dance, was a choreographer’s assistant herself and the list goes on.  Furthermore, she wrote a full-length musical, as well as a narrative homage to her father’s contributions for PBS television.  She later made short story contributions to these books:  Before I Got Here: The Wondrous Things We Hear When We Listen to the Souls of Our Children, edited by Blair Underwood and Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community, edited by Gil Robertson.  Ms.  Wilson wrote poems and her work was featured in several published collections.  More recently, she staged Rosa, danced by Joyelle Fobbs on January 26th, 2013, in Ohio at Columbus' Lincoln theatre in honor of the late Rosa Parks.  In this performance, Grammy winning chanteuse Roberta Flack superbly sang “I Told Jesus”.  Readers will be able to view the YouTube video after the end of the following interview.  

Kenneth Culver Johnson was born in 1942 in Arkansas (Pine Bluff (Jefferson County)) to Kenneth Culver Johnson Sr. and Helene Maye Brown Johnson. Mr. Johnson is a graduate from Carnegie Institute of Technology. He wears many hats: director, producer, author, teacher and screenwriter. Mr. Johnson’s first important work was An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe in 1972. Soon after, he wrote, produced, and/or directed one of the most popular TV series of the seventies, The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-1978), based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, The Bionic Woman (1976-1978) and The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982). Before his aforementioned popular shows of the seventies, Kenneth Johnson was successful in NY and in the East Coast as a director/producer. In 1966, he was part of The Mike Douglas Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a producer, and he directed most of the film work for the show. When he was only 24 in 1967, he took Roger Ailes’ position as executive producer of the show.

It is important to consider how The Bionic Woman was ground-breaking in the seventies. Jaime Sommers, who represented the bionic woman, was strong and feminine; in other words, she was not androgynous. Sommers was also astute, forthright, self-defined and intrepid. She carried herself with class and finesse without being ostentatious. Her beliefs and actions profoundly shook the status quo regarding how women were portrayed on TV. Kenneth Johnson provided to international viewers a broader definition of what a woman could be on television.

Jaime Sommers was the high school sweetheart of Colonel and astronaut Steve Austin, the bionic man. After a skydiving accident and restructuring surgery paid by the American government, she became a top-secret agent for the Office of Scientific investigations (OSI). She could run faster than 60 mph, it is even reported that her speech reached 100 mph. She possessed the ability to bend massive steel bars, jump from really high heights, and hear sounds from a long distance. A bionic dog called Maximillion was also created, and could run at speeds of up to 90 mph. Max cared about saving lives as much as the other bionics, Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers. Emmy Award winner Lindsay Wagner portrayed Jaime Sommers.

Sommers, the most famous female secret agent, undertook many missions where she did such undercover work as a police officer, a chanteuse, a nun, a professional wrestler, and so on to fight spies, aliens, crazy scientists, etc. Sommers was not the only powerful woman in the show; it happened from time to time that she had to fight Fembots, which were female robots who had superpowers similar to the bionics.

The name "Jaime" was mainly a male name (a derivative of "James") before the television series began. It is certainly not a coincidence that in 1976 the name Jaime became one of the 100 most popular names of the year in the U.S. The female name Jamie (a variant spelling) also became highly popular at the time. So, it was a cultural phenomenon.

Morris Chestnut was born on New Year’s Day 1969 in Cerritos, California where he was a student-athlete in high school, en route to majoring in finance and drama at California State University. He made his big screen debut opposite Ice Cube in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, and subsequently enjoyed his breakout role as the groom-to-be in Malcolm Lee’s The Best Man.

The handsome heartthrob has been a much-in-demand leading man ever since, starring in hits like The Call, Think Like a Man, Identity Thief, The Brothers, Not Easily Broken, Kick Ass 2, Two Can Play That Game, Breakin’ All the Rules, The Perfect Holiday, Half Past Dead, Like Mike, Ladder 94 and The Game Plan. A dedicated family man away from work, Morris and his wife, Pam Byse, live in suburban L.A. with their son, Grant, and daughter, Paige.

Here, he talks about reprising the memorable role of Lance Sullivan in the eagerly-anticipated sequel, The Best Man Holiday.

Dr. Dennis Paul Kimbro was born in Jersey City. He is the son of Donald and Mary Kimbro. He went to Oklahoma University to obtain a B.A. in 1972 and a Ph.D. in Political Economy in 1984 at Northwestern University. Dr. Kimbro worked in sales and marketing from 1978 to 1987 for Smithkline Beckman Pharmaceutical Corporation. Between 1988 and 1991, he was a consultant for ABC Management Consultants, Inc. Since 1992, he has been a professor at Clark Atlanta University School of Business and Administration. He was also the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship of this institution from 1992 to 1996. This center was a subdivision of the university’s School of Business and Administration and it was established to encourage young African-Americans to start their own enterprises or small businesses. It also comprised a summer program for high school students and was funded by a million-dollar benefaction from the Dow Jones Company, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and was the first of its kind at a historically Black college. Hence, throughout his career, Dr. Kimbro created courses and programs to show “minority”students how to start their own companies and how to make them prosper. His ideas are exposed in his 1991 ground-breaking book Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice which was part of our top 20 in spring 2012. Dr. Kimbro co-authored this book with the late Napoleon Hill. The book is based on the principles of wealth that Napoleon Hill exposed in his classical bestseller Think and Grow Rich. USA Today reporter Rhonda Richards claimed that it was a “bible” for the would-be Black capitalist. Dr. Kimbro’s books are fascinating because he features Black Americans who succeeded against all odds. He exposes the principles of their work ethic, their beliefs in spirituality, their creativity, their stoicism, etc. Thus, Dr. Kimbro interviewed novelist Alice Walker and opera singer Leontyne Price; he spoke to publishers Earl Graves and the late John H. Johnson. He featured entrepreneurs who are as diverse as the late cosmetics manufacturer Madame C. J. Walker and cookie-maker Wally Amos. Many discussed their ambitions and achievements with Dr. Kimbro. In addition, the author included his own observations and insights about capitalising on potential, positive thinking and developing success step by step.

Dr. Allen is a multiple specialist physician born in the United States. His late parents were a urologist (father) and a registered nurse (mother). Dr. Allen grew up on a farm and shares a passion for animals. He was seriously thinking to become a veterinarian. Thus, he went to University of California and obtained a B.S. in zoology in 1982. Eventually, he switched his orientation and enrolled in medical school. He earned his medical degree in 1986 from Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. He subsequently did his general surgery and urology residency at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. He specialized in urologic oncology and was the awarded chief resident in 1991. Hence, he became a urologist who specialized in cancerous diseases of the urinary tract. He coordinated efforts with State Boards and Pennsylvania Health Departments in order to assure patient safety. As of 1986, he provided acute and chronic care in response to life-threatening medical emergencies, routine healthcare and patient education. He conveyed three successful practices. 

In 1998, an unfortunate accident occurred while Dr. Allen was operating on an elderly patient who had a large kidney tumor amongst other medical complications. During the removal of the patient’s kidney, Dr. Allen’s life dramatically changed in a split-second (after years of hard work) and he had a near-death experience. He got electrocuted by a cautery device used to seal off blood vessels. He suffered a traumatic brain injury (including memory loss, concussion, chronic lethargy…) and had to get the appropriate health professionals to help treat his condition. It was a very difficult road. As a patient, Dr. Allen was prescribed multiple medications (taking a total of 36 pills per day), which created side effects. He suffered many other injuries, including hand and arm nerve damage, heart damage, and post-traumatic stress disorder, to name a few. He also experienced petit mal seizures, his left arm muscles atrophied almost to the bone, etc. It took him years to recover. He needed to go through physiotherapy and psychology sessions among the many treatments.

Dr. Suneel Dhand, M.D. is board certified in Internal Medicine. He was born in London and grew up in Windsor, England. His parents emigrated from Punjab, India in the 1960s. He studied medicine at Cardiff University, and then came to the United States to pursue residency training. Hence, he completed his internal medicine residency in Maryland, and now works in Massachusetts.

Dr. Dhand developed an interest in preventive medicine, health and well-being, which inspired him to write about the topic. High Percentage Wellness Steps: Natural, Proven, Everyday Steps to Improve Your Health & Well-being was his first book, with profits going to a number of health-related causes, involving humanitarian relief, medical research, and other special projects for those suffering from terrible illnesses. Some of these include the Red Cross, Make a Wish Foundation, and organizations devoted to cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological research.

Dr. Dhand’s first book covers many subjects including the importance of eating a healthy diet, to other diverse health-related aspects of life . For instance, he exposes the consequences (including the economic impact) of lack of sleep, stress, etc. He also wrote about the pros of daily regular sit-down meals with the family daily. In addition, the book gives great advice to encourage people who are not really into physical activities. About mental health, according to his observations, Dr. Dhand thinks that Western culture deals with stress in a more solitary and individual way, strongly relying on medications like anti-depressants. In the East, there is more focus on family support systems to help anyone work their way through difficult times in life. Reading Dr. Dhand’s first book was like attending a lecture by a physician, it was very informative. It was also interesting to discover the views of a physician who had an Eastern background and a holistic approach which was embraced in the past by thinkers such as Socrates. In fact, the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being”, and not merely as the absence of disease or infirmity.

Forest Whitaker was born in Texas.  His father, Forest Whitaker, Jr., worked as an insurance salesman and was the son of novelist Forest Whitaker, Sr. His mother, Laura Francis (née Smith), was a special education teacher who went to college and earned two Masters degrees while raising her children.  Forest Whitaker enrolled in the Music Conservatory at the University of Southern California to study opera as a tenor.  He was accepted into the University's Drama Conservatory and graduated from USC in 1982. In addition, he earned a scholarship to the Berkeley, California branch of the Drama Studio London.  Whitaker is also getting a degree in The Core of Conflict: Studies in Peace and Reconciliation at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Forest Whitaker is a distinguished artist and humanist. He is the founder of PeaceEarth Foundation, co-founder and chair of the International Institute for Peace, and the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation. A versatile talent, Forest is one of Hollywood’s most accomplished performers, receiving such prestigious honors as a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, as well as a Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Bird.

Over the past decade, he has dedicated most of his time to extensive humanitarian work, feeling compelled by his social awareness to seek ways of using the film medium as a means of raising peoples’ consciousness. To that end, he produced the award-winning documentary Kassim the Dream, which tells the touching story of a Ugandan child soldier turned world champion boxer; Rising from Ashes, which profiles Rwandan genocide survivors’ attempt to qualify for the Olympics riding wooden bicycles; Serving Life, which focuses on hospice care for prisoners at Louisiana’s Angola Prison; and the Peabody Award-winning "Brick City", which offers an unvarnished peek at inner-city life in Newark, New Jersey.

Whitaker was the 2007 recipient of the Cinema for Peace Award, and he currently sits on the board of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. In addition, he serves as a Senior Research Scholar at Rutgers University, and as a Visiting Professor at Ringling College of Art and Design, too.  Again, in 2007, Whitaker got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  In 2009, he earned an Honorary Degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and he was given a chieftaincy title in Nigeria.

Besides the aforementioned films, Forest’s impressive resume’ includes The Great Debaters, The Crying Game, Panic Room, Platoon, Ghost Dog, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Good Morning Vietnam. Here, he talks about his latest outing as the title character in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, a decades-spanning sage chronicling the life and career of an African-American who served eight presidents in the White House.

Ms. Johnson was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father's military career took her around the world at an early age, exposing her to multiple cultures and experiences. Ms. Sherrie Johnson is an Emmy Award winning Reporter/Anchor based in Baltimore, Maryland with over 19 years of experience. She obtained her BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994. She also has a minor in German.

Since 2003, she has served as the Morning Reporter and fill-in Anchor at WMAR-TV ABC2News in Baltimore, Maryland. Moreover, Sherrie Johnson also covers the Education beat for ABC2News with her "Making a Difference" reports. As a Reporter/Anchor, Johnson has worked in five television markets (including local and national TV affiliates), hosted shows and served as Mistress of Ceremony for multiple events. More precisely, Sherrie Johnson started her television career in Washington, North Carolina, and has worked at stations in Asheville, North Carolina, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.  Hence, her experience took her from her home state of North Carolina, where she began her career in little Washington, and brought her to Asheville before going to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. She did freelancing work in Washington, D.C. at WTTG Fox 5 and Fox News Channel. Then, she continued in Baltimore. She has been featured in Ebony and Heart & Soul magazines. Her contribution was sanctioned with an Emmy Award in 2004 for Best Feature for Lauren’s Story.

Ms. Loring was born in New York City on December 10, the International Human Rights Day and, more specifically, two years before the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Gloria Loring comes from a musical family. Her father, Gerald Louis Goff, was a trumpet player and her mother, Dorothy Ann (née Tobin) a band singer who, after giving birth to Gloria Loring, stayed home. During her early years, the songstress sang in church and school productions.

Ms. Loring wears many hats; she is a lyricist, a chanteuse, an actress, an authoress and an entrepreneur. In 1977, she recorded a song called “Brooklyn” with producer Mike Post. The single was released under the name Cody Jameson and became a country hit. Loring is the recording artist of the number 1 hit single with Carl Anderson “Friends and Lovers” when she portrayed the role of Liz Chandler, a chanteuse on Days of Our Lives. Her performance of the single generated the largest mail response of any song in the NBC daytime history. She was the co-composer–with her then husband Alan Thicke (from one of the most popular 80s’ sitcoms, Growing Pains) and Al Burton, of  the theme songs for Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, which were among the most popular sitcoms of the 70-80s. Loring also co-wrote “What’ve You Got to Lose” with Eric Kaz, which was taped by the group, Pablo Cruise, for the feature film Inside Moves. She hosted the TV series From the Heart while joining the Pointer Sisters in a Showtime TV Special and was instrumental in creating the good vibrations of the “Beach Boys 25th Anniversary Special”. Over the years, Gloria has shared the stage with Bill Cosby, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and many other elite performers. Her recordings have featured great talents like George Duke, Bobby Caldwell, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, Howard Hewitt, Bill Champlin (of Chicago) and The Nylons.  

Beforehand, when Gloria Loring was a senior, she became a Homecoming Princess and was voted Most Talented. Loring started her music career at age 14, singing with a folk group known as "Those Four". Gloria started singing professionally at fifteen in local coffee houses in Miami and, from the time she was 18, she learned the craft of live performance, playing in small supper clubs around the U.S. She released her first LP in 1968 entitled "Gloria Loring, Today" on MGM Records. At the age of 18, she signed a one-year contract with The Merv Griffin Show. 

Ms. Loring is also a key note speaker for corporations and non-profit organizations, the authoress of six books that benefited people with diabetes, two of which (the Days of Our Lives cookbooks vol. 1 and 2) brought $1 million to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)1, for which she served as a spokesperson. This initiative made her a trailblazer among the actors of this soap opera. Her involvement with this organization began thirty years ago. Raising this money coincided with a mysterious event that is recounted in her book Coincidence is God’s Way of Remaining Anonymous.

Elizabeth Sanchez became an alumnus of California State University (where she later served as an Adjunct Professor) in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. As a reporter, Sanchez has covered multiple stories on: politics, government, consumer issues, entertainment, and so on. She was the host of the national PBS TV show A Place of Our Own. She worked as a Dallas-based National Correspondent for CBS NewsPath1. After, she was an investigative reporter and anchor in San Diego, California.  More specifically,  as mentioned Elizabeth Sanchez was a correspondent for CBS NEWSPATH which she joined in October 2002. Prior to that, Sanchez served as a weekend anchor and journalist for KPHO-TV Phoenix (2000-02), where she covered the Arizona wildfires, among many other issues. Sanchez was the weekend morning anchor and reporter at WSOC-TV Charlotte from 1996-2000. She was an anchor and investigative reporter for Channel 10 in San Diego from 2005-08. In addition, she worked as an anchor and journalist for KYMA-TV Yuma, Ariz. (1993-94) and as a reporter for KYOU-TV Santa Ana, Calif. (1992-93).

Sanchez's experience also comprises radio reporting. She served as a producer and journalist for KFI-AM Los Angeles (1990-93), where she covered the L.A. riots. Moreover, she reported for KPCC-FM Pasadena, Calif. (1991-92). Hence, Sanchez has more than 20 years of experience as a radio and television news reporter. Sanchez has won several journalism awards. In this regard, she has received several Associated Press prizes, including Best of the West Environmental in 2001, Best Serious Feature in 1993 and Best Newscast in 1992. She has also won a Golden Mike Award for Best Newscast during a morning broadcast in 1991. Furthermore, she is the recipient of Emmys for outstanding investigative reporting.

Currently, Elizabeth Sanchez is the executive director of the non-profit organization Angel Faces – founded by the President Lesia Cartelli President – that provides services to young girls who have suffered severe burns. Donations are the main financial resource of Angel Faces. The organization operates with the help of volunteers and professionals (a reconstructive surgeon, an attorney, etc.). This year Angel Faces will celebrate its tenth anniversary.  Sanchez is a spokesperson for Angel Faces and gave an interview for this organization on Kiro radio. Angel Faces has received coverage in other media, such as CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, KPBS and the Associated Press.

Vice President                                           Governor                                       Senator
lai E. Stevenson I                               Adlai E. Stevenson II                           Adlai E. Stevenson III  

Perchance no American family has been actively involved in public office and politics for as long as the Adlai Stenvensons’ dynasty, starting with Jesse W. Fell (1808-1887) in the 1830s, including Vice President Adlai I (1835-1914)1, Governor Adlai II (1900-1965) and U.S. Senator Adlai III. Notably, Fell was Abraham Lincoln’s sponsor. Without Fell, the course of U.S. history would have been altered and Lincoln may never have been president.

Aforementioned, Adlai Ewing Stevenson III, born in 1930, was the Senator of Illinois from 1970 until 1981. Measured by a host of demographic factors, such as race, income, education, immigration and rural-urban composition, Illinois is America’s most representative state, according to the Census Bureau. Illinois had its difficulties with elected officials, but we cannot forget that it is also the home of Abraham Lincoln and Mr. President Barack Obama. In between those two Illinois Presidents, prominent public servants from the state have included five generations of the Stevenson family.

Stevenson III is a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War; he became a captain in 1961. Later he served as a law clerk for the Illinois Supreme Court. He was admitted to the bar in 1957 and started his practice in Chicago. Stevenson III was a partner in the large law firm of Mayer, Brown and a member of the Illinois House of Representatives between 1965 and 1967, a State Treasurer from 1967 until 1970 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1976, Chicago’s Mayor Daley wanted Stevenson III to run for President. In this regard, Stevenson III became one of six finalists for the vice presidential nomination at the 1976 Democratic Convention in New York.

Hailing from Anderson, South Carolina, Chadwick Boseman is an accomplished actor, scriptwriter and playwright who, until now, was probably best known for portraying the character Nate on the critically-acclaimed dramatic TV series Lincoln Heights. Prior to entering show business, Chad Boseman earned degrees at Howard University and the British American Dramatic Academy at Oxford.

Here, he talks about playing Jackie Robinson opposite Harrison Ford and Nicole Beharie in 42, a biopic about the late Hall of Famer’s historic breaking of Major League Baseball’s color barrier back in 1947.

Kam Williams: Hi Chad [Boseman], thanks for the interview.

Chad Boseman: Nice to talk to you, Kam [Williams].

KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier [of www.megadiversities.com] says: I appreciate the opportunity to ask you a question, especially because everything changed for Jackie Robinson in my hometown of Montreal. What did it mean to you to portray Jackie Robinson and how did you prepare for the role?

CB: It’s just a great honor to play him. In order to portray him, I basically paid attention to three different aspects of the role. First, the physical aspect of baseball, and his five-day-a-week workout regimen starting with Spring Training in the middle of January all the way to May. Secondly, I studied Hall of Fame footage of Jackie so that I could emulate his batting stance, how he took leads, how he ran bases, the arm slide he used in certain situations, and his fielding style.