Chadwick Boseman: Every Movie Ranked Worst To Best

After a handful of TV guest spots on the likes of ER, All My Children and Lincoln Heights, Chadwick Boseman broke out into the movies with a supporting turn in Gary Felder's inspirational sports drama The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. In it, he briefly portrays real-life halfback Floyd Little, foreshadowing his ability to embody real people with extraordinary ease.

The drama follows Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first African-American to win the coveted Heisman Trophy, who overcame racism and discrimination to achieve his goals. Brown and Boseman are joined by Dennis Quaid, Omar Benson Miller and Clancy Brown, who all offer compelling performances to Davis' triumphant tale.

The problem is not the acting, then (though more Boseman would have been nice). The Express is all well and good as a sports drama, but like many films in the genre ends up feeling tacky, with forced sentimentality and a formulaic structure that leaves things feeling a touch underwhelming.

Still, Ernie Davis' is a story everyone should hear, even if you only want to check it out to see Boseman's first movie role.