South London actor John Boyega got his hands on his first Bafta film award last night.

The 23-year-old, who grew up in Peckham and studied at South Thames College in Wandsworth, won the Bafta Rising Star award.

Boyega won a public vote for the prize for up-and-coming actors, beating A Royal Night Out’s Bel Powley, 50 Shades of Grey’s Dakota Johnson, Kingsman’s Taron Egerton and Room’s Brie Larson.

Larson won Best Actress for her role in Room.

Boyega played former Stormtrooper Finn in the most recent Star Wars film – The Force Awakens. Prior to pursuing acting full-time, he enrolled at Greenwich University.

 

 

The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road – both starring East Sheen’s Tom Hardy – took the bulk of the awards at the ceremony at the Royal Opera House, with five and four respectively.

The Revenant triumphed in the higher profile categories: best film, leading actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, director for Alejandro G Inarritu, sound and cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki.