Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Ejiofor (born July 10, 1977, London, England) is an award-winning British actor, writer, and director known for bringing a quiet gravitas and multidimensionality to a wide variety of roles. He became a familiar screen presence in the 2000s with parts in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Kinky Boots (2005) and went on to receive high praise for his role in 12 Years a Slave (2013), direct his own feature film, and appear in big-budget Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Early life and career

Ejiofor was born in the Forest Gate district of London to Nigerian parents Obiajulu Justina, a pharmacist, and Arinze Ejiofor, a doctor. Both were of Igbo descent and emigrated from Nigeria during its civil war (1967–70). He has an elder brother, Obinze Ejiofor, and two younger sisters, Zain Ejiofor Asher, a news correspondent, and Kandi Ejiofor, a doctor. At the age of 11, Chiwetel Ejiofor and his father were visiting Nigeria when they were in a car accident. His father was killed in the collision, and Ejiofor suffered serious injuries.

Ejiofor and his siblings were then raised by their single mother. He attended Dulwich College, London, and acted in school plays. By age 13, he had became a member of the National Youth Theatre, London, and went on to attend the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He made his television debut in 1996, appearing in an episode of the British television anthology series Screen Two. In 1997 Ejiofor was cast in the movie Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg.

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Roles in the 2000s

Following his appearance in that high-profile film, Ejiofor left LAMDA and balanced his time working in films, television, and theatre. He garnered critical acclaim for a few of his earliest roles, including a patient in a psychiatric hospital in the play Blue/Orange (2000), for which he won the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for outstanding newcomer. Ejiofor also received a British Independent Film Award for best actor and an American Black Film Festival Award for best performance by an actor for his lead part in Dirty Pretty Things (2002). Ejiofor worked steadily throughout the 2000s, appearing in the hit romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), the British comedy Kinky Boots (2005), the dystopian thriller Children of Men (2006), and the crime drama American Gangster (2007). He also had roles in a number of Spike Lee films, including She Hate Me (2004) and Inside Man (2006). On the stage Ejiofor assumed the title role in William Shakespeare’s Othello (2007), garnering a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance. He also wrote and directed a short film called Slapper (2007), about a young boy who thinks a masked fighter could be his missing father.

12 Years a Slave and other films of the 2010s

In 2013 Ejiofor gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of Solomon Northup, the real-life subject of Steve McQueen’s film 12 Years a Slave, which was based on Northup’s 1853 memoir about being a free Black man abducted and sold into slavery. For the pivotal role, Ejiofor won the BAFTA Award for best leading actor, and he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Ejiofor continued to choose a wide range of roles, including a professor supporting the Republic of Biafra in the adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s Half a Yellow Sun (2013), a NASA official in The Martian (2015), and the villain Mordo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2016 film adaptation of Doctor Strange (he reprised the last role in the 2022 sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). He also lent his voice to the villainous Scar in Disney’s remake of The Lion King (2019). In 2019 Ejiofor directed his first feature-length film, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, in which he played the father of a boy trying to save his Malawian village from famine. The film, which was based on a true story, received wide acclaim, and Ejiofor won the NAACP 2020 Image Award for outstanding directing in a motion picture.

Parts in the 2020s

In the early 2020s Ejiofor appeared alongside Charlize Theron in the action thriller The Old Guard (2020) and Anne Hathaway in the caper Locked Down (2021). In 2022 he starred in the television series The Man Who Fell to Earth, the sequel to the 1976 film of the same name, which starred David Bowie.

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Awards

Aside from Ejiofor’s many awards for his work as an actor and director, he also received the Global Promise Award for his philanthropic work in Nigeria. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015.