John Boyega was in dire financial straits prior to landing his breakthrough role as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. During an appearance at the 2025 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (via People), the actor recalled the story of being cast in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. After enduring a grueling audition process, Boyega received an email from J.J. Abrams asking if they could talk. Sick of being put through the wringer, Boyega opted to “pretend as if I was busy” and made it seem like he wasn’t available to talk to Abrams right then. However, the director insisted, stressing it was “something important.” Boyega spent nearly all of his savings to get to the restaurant where Abrams was waiting for him to tell him he got the part.
“I had been auditioning for so long, so I felt like he kind of took away my dignity a little bit,” Boyega said. “So I decided to pretend as if I was busy, you know, when you just pretend that you’re busy. ‘I got other stuff to do, J.J.’ He goes, ‘Where are you?’ And I said ‘I’m at this art show in Greenwich, mate. I’m very, very busy. Where are you?’ He goes, ‘Well, I’m in Mayfair and [at a] restaurant. Need to talk to you now. And we’ll talk about something important.’ And I go, ‘Okay, okay, I’m gonna be right there.’ At the time I had £45 in my account. It took £33 and 83p to get to J.J. Do the math.”
Boyega portrayed Finn in all three installments of the sequel trilogy, reprising the role in 2017’s The Last Jedi and 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Prior to joining the franchise, his credits consisted of smaller films. His most high-profile pre-Star Wars project was Attack the Block, which — despite having a passionate following now — grossed $6.2 million worldwide. Even actors who have been in Marvel and DC films for years are underpaid, so it’s no surprise Boyega had so little money before he became Finn.
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Last month, Boyega reflected on how he credits Tom Cruise with paving his path to Star Wars. He noted how during post-production on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Cruise recommended Attack the Block to Abrams, raving about Boyega’s performance in the film. Though Boyega still had to audition against several other rising stars, he likely had an edge thanks to Cruise.
Actor salaries have made plenty of headlines recently, with veterans such as Djimon Hounsou, John Malkovich, and Carrie Coon have commented on the topic, highlighting how little major franchises can pay at times. But for someone in Boyega’s position, with only £45 to his name, Star Wars was life-changing money, especially since it meant he had a character he could return to multiple times over a handful of years. Additionally, The Force Awakens put Boyega on the map professionally, opening doors for him to work with acclaimed directors on other high-profile projects. If he didn’t land the role of Finn, Boyega might still be a relative unknown scraping to get by.
It’ll be interesting to see if Boyega ever returns for another Star Wars payday. He has an arguably complicated relationship with the franchise; at times he’s been vocal about his frustrations over Lucasfilm’s creative decisions, but he has said he is “open to all opportunities” when discussing a potential comeback. Lucasfilm is currently developing a New Jedi Order movie featuring Rey, which could provide an avenue for Finn to return. That could be a way for the filmmakers to explore the character’s Force sensitivity in greater depth.
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