Chiwetelu Umeadi Ejiofor
Chiwetel is an English actor, writer and director. Throughout his career he has won several awards and nominations. He is especially known for his role in 12 Years a Slave, where he played Solomon Northup. For this performance he received an Academy Award, and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.
1977
London, England
Black British
In 1996 Chiwetelu made his film debut with the television film Deadly Voyage.
In 2000 he won his first award was for his role in Blue/Orange, where he won an Evening Standard Theatre Awards for an Outstanding Newcomer
In 2008 he made his directorial debut in the short film Slapper, which he also wrote
Chiwetelu was born in Forest Gate, London on 10 July 10, 1977. At an early age he began to pursue his dream, appearing in numerous school and National Youth Theatre productions and subsequently attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). Chiwetelu was in a car accident in 1988 at the age of 11. His family visited Nigeria for a family wedding and on returning to Lagos was involved in a collision in which his father was killed. Chiwetelu was hospitalised for a month.
Chiwetelu made his film debut in 1996 with the television film Deadly Voyage. He was a stage actor before this
He appeared in the British film G:MT – Greenwich Mean Time in 1999
He starred in Blue/Orange at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe Stage and the Duchess Theatre in 2000. He also played Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in 2000 and was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award
In 2000 he had his first leading film role playing Nicky Burkett in Jeremy Cameron’s It Was an Accident
He starred in Dirty Pretty Things in 2002
In 2003 he starred in a BBC adaptation of Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale and in the BBC series Trust. In the same year he was the lead role of Augustus in the radio production of Rita Dove’s poetic drama The Darker Face of the Earth
He starred alongside Hilary Swank in Red Dust in 2004, portraying the fictional politician Alex Mpondo of postapartheid South Africa
He received acclaim for his performance for his role in the film Serenity in 2005
In 2006 he played a revolutionary in the film Children of Men
He was nominated for the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award in 2006, which recognises emerging British film talent
In 2007
he played Huey Lucas in American Gangster
In 2008 he wrote and directed a short film, Slapper
In 2009 he played Thabo Mbeki in Endgame and Adrian Helmsley in 2012
In 2010 he played Darryl Peabody in Salt
In 2013 he appeared as Christmas Moultrie in Savannah and as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave. He also played Odenigbo in Half of a Yellow Sun
In 2015, he was John Loomis in Z for Zachariah, and Vincent Kapoor in The Martian
In 2016, he featured as Michael Atwood in Triple 9 and Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange
In 2018he played Carlton Pearson in Come Sunday, Peter in Mary Magdalene, and Gnome Watson (voice) in Sherlock Gnomes
In 2019 he played Scar (voice) in The Lion King, and Trywell Kamkwamba in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a film which he also wrote. He also featured as Conall in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and was the narrator of the film The Elephant Queen
In 2020, he played Copley in The Old Guard
In 2021, he featured as Paxton in Locked Down, and Bathurst 2020 in Infinite
In 2022, he is featuring as Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
he has also played various TV and theatre roles through the years
Chiwetelu has been nominated for several awards throughout his career as an actor, writer and director. The first was for his role in Blue/Orange, where he won an Evening Standard Theatre Awards for an Outstanding Newcomer in 2000
In 2015 he was honoured with a Global Promise Award by The GEANCO Foundation, a nonprofit welfare organisation in West Africa, for his charity work in Nigeria
In 2020 he won a NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture for the The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and a Newport Beach Film Festival Awards 2020 for Artist of Distinction for 12 Years a Slave
He is of Igbo heritage
.Chiwetelu was in a car accident in 1988 at the age of 11. His family visited Nigeria for a family wedding and on returning to Lagos were involved in a collision in which his father was killed. Chiwetelu was hospitalised for a month. This resulted in the small scar on his forehead
After the accident his mother Obiajulu did all she could to raise her children in a comfortable home and she provided them with good education
He is also a fan of the of the football club Crystal Palace FC
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0252230/bio
Husband, Stuart (11 November 2007). “Chiwetel Ejiofor: it’s always the quiet ones…” The Daily Telegraph. London.
“Chiwetel Ejiofor Biography”. Biography.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015
“No. 58729”. The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2008. p. 10
“NAACP Winners 2020: The Complete List”. Variety.
“Colourful play wins accolade”. BBC News. 27 November 2000
Ravindran, Manori (30 January 2020). “‘Morning Show’ Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw Slams Award Shows’ ‘Stark Lack of Inclusivity’”
Holmes, Mannie (22 September 2015). “Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Oyelowo Talk Nigeria’s Girls, Uzo Aduba & Diversity at Fundraiser”
Raphael, Amy (2 December 2007). “The sort of actor born, not made”. The Guardian
