Chiwetel Ejiofor: biography and selected filmography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Chiwetel Ejiofor is a British actor of Nigerian origin, winner of several prestigious awards and nominees for many awards. He is known to many for his roles in such popular films as Mission Serenity, Gangster, 12 Years a Slave, etc. But his filmography includes many more projects.

Biography

Chiwetel was born to a Nigerian family in 1977 in Forest Gate, East London. His mother Obyajulu worked in a pharmacy and his father Arinz was a doctor. Later, their daughter Zain Asher appeared in their family, who is now a correspondent for CNN.

At the age of fourteen, while studying at Dulwich College, Chiwetel Ejiofor began to participate in performances. He even joined the National Youth Theater of Great Britain. And once he got the lead role in the play "Othello", which first took place at the Bloomsbury Theater in 1995, and then in 1996 at the Royal Theater in Glasgow.

Career start

Chivetel Ejiofor's film list dates back to 1997 when Steven Spielberg offered him a small role in the historical drama Amistad. The film is based on a true story related to the mutiny that took place in 1839 on a slave ship. And soon the actor appeared in John Strickland's musical drama GMT (1999).

The actor got his first leading role only in 2002, when he was offered to star in the British thriller Dirty Pretty. This is the story of the survival of an administrator and a cleaning lady who are forced to work in a hotel, the most criminal institution in London.

Then Chiwetel Ejiofor got a place in the cast of Matthias Ledoux's crime thriller "Three Blind Mice" (2003). At the same time, he starred in the British mini-series The Canterbury Tales (2003), which consisted of six separate parts. In 2004, the British Academy Television Awards nominated the project in three categories. But the best actress then was named Julie W alters.

Also in 2004, another film with Ejiofor was released. It was Woody Allen's dramatic comedy "Melinda &Melinda", which deals with two storylines at once - tragic and humorous. And this project was followed by Joss Whedon's sci-fi action movie Serenity Mission. Chiwetel Ejiofor did not receive a spot in the main cast and did not win any awards. But being on the set of such a successful film was a victory in itself.

In 2005, the actor got the lead role in the dramacomedy of the American-British production Freaky Bots and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.

Until 2010, the actor starred in several more film projects. In Bharat Nalluri's serial drama "Tsunami" (2006). In Casey Lemmons' biographical war drama Talk to Me (2007). With Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, he starred in Ridley Scott's crime drama Gangster (2007). Received a leading role in David Mamet's sports drama Red Belt (2007). And joined William Hurt on the set of the historical drama The End Game (2009).

After 2010

In 2010, Chiwetel Ejiofor played CIA counterintelligence officer Darryl Peabody in Phillip Noyce's American action movie "S alt" starring Angelina Jolie. Then he got the lead role in the seven-episode British drama Hugo Bleek's "Shadow Border" (2011), where he played the role of a detective with a bullet in his head, busy investigating the murder of a drug lord. And a year later, together with Al Pacino, he starred in the television historical drama "Phil Spector" (2012).

Starting from 2013, the actor's schedule has become tighter. In a short period, he appeared in several projects at once, including Stephen Poliakoff's mini-series Dancing on the Edge (2012), Annette Haywood-Carter's family drama Savannah (2013), Steve McQueen's biographical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013).), as well as Bailey Bandele’s melodrama Half a Yellow Sun (2013).

BIn Craig Zobel's fantasy drama Z for Zechariah (2015), the actor played the role of John Loomis, one of the few survivors of a nuclear disaster. In Ridley Scott's sci-fi film The Martian (2015), he played Vincent Kapoor, head of the Ares program. And the next film with Chiwetel Ejiofor was the thriller "The Secret in Their Eyes" (2015), where the actor played Ray Castaing, an FBI officer from the counterterrorism department.

From recent projects, one can single out Matt Cook's action movie "Three Nines" (2016), where he played one of the bank robbers. And the superhero thriller Doctor Strange, released in the same year, was filmed in the Marvel universe, where the actor got the role of the black magician Baron Karl Mordo.

What else to expect?

In the near future, several more films with Chiwetel Ejiofor will appear at the box office. Garth Davis's drama Mary Magdalene (2017) and another drama by Joshua Marston's The Heretic (2017) have already been completed. There are also a couple of films, the premiere of which is not yet scheduled. These two dramas are “Cocaine” and “Today at Noon.”