New Movie ‘Rob Peace’ Retells the Tragic Life of Robert DeShaun Peace

The life of Robert DeShaun Peace, a brilliant and tragic figure, has been brought to the big screen in the 2024 movie ‘Rob Peace,’ directed by British actor, screenwriter, and film director Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film is based on the 2014 biography ‘The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace’ written by Jeff Hobbs, who was Peace’s roommate at Yale University.

Robert DeShaun Peace was an American scholar and teacher born on June 25, 1980, in Orange, New Jersey. Despite the challenges he faced, including his father’s imprisonment for an alleged murder when Peace was just seven years old, he excelled academically and athletically. He attended St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, where he was a student body leader, captained the swimming and water polo teams, and received the Presidential Award upon graduation.

Peace went on to attend Yale University, majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. At Yale, he co-captained the club water polo team and worked in a cancer and infectious disease laboratory associated with the Yale Medical School. Despite his academic and athletic achievements, Peace was also involved in selling marijuana to his classmates, a facet of his life that is depicted in the film.

After graduating from Yale with honors in 2002, Peace became a biology teacher and water polo coach at his former high school in Newark, New Jersey. He later worked at Newark Liberty International Airport and started a real estate venture aimed at renovating abandoned homes in his neighborhood.

Tragically, Robert Peace was murdered in May 2011 at the age of 30 in a drug-related incident. The movie ‘Rob Peace’ stars Jay Will, Mary J. Blige, and Camila Cabello and was released in theaters in August 2024 and on Netflix on November 11, 2024. It quickly became one of the Top 10 movies on the streaming platform within a week of its release.