Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Ejiofor Biography / Profile

Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor was born on July 10th, 1977 in Forest Gate, London, England, United Kingdom to Nigerian parents, Arinze, a medical doctor from Ezeagu local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria and mother, Obiajulu, a pharmacist. Ejiofor is an acclaimed film actor, television and stage with a wide range of roles in projects like 'Othello,' 'Serenity,' 'Kinky Boots' and '12 Years a Slave.'

Chiwetel Ejiofor Age

Chiwetel Ejiofor is 46 years old.

Chiwetel Ejiofor Early Life

The second of four siblings, Ejiofor lost his father in a car accident in a visit to Nigeria when he was a child, after which he was hospitalized for more than two months and physically scarred. With his mother taking care of the family, Ejiofor developed a passion for reading and the stage, and as such performed with the National Youth Theatre. He attended Dulwich College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), both in London, England.

Chiwetel Ejiofor Career

Ejiofor made his film debut in the 1996 television film Deadly Voyage. He caught the attention of Steven Spielberg who cast him in the critically acclaimed Amistad (1997) alongside Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins. During the early 2000s, Ejiofor had lead and supporting roles in many big-screen projects that showed his versatility as an actor, taking work in a variety of genres across the moral spectrum. He has since been seen on the big screen in numerous features including Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Love Actually (2003), Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda (2004), Kinky Boots (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), American Gangster (2007) and Talk to Me (2007).

Ejiofor was the lead character—singing drag diva Lola—in the 2006 film Kinky Boots, for which Ejiofor earned a Golden Globe Award nomination. (The movie eventually went on to be adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical written by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein.) Ejiofor received additional Golden Globe nods for his part in HBO's Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) and, three years later, for his role portraying Thabo Mbeki in the South African drama Endgame.

He has also directed the 2008 short film Slapper; the same year he appeared in the David Mamet martial arts film Redbelt and performed lead in a stage revival of Othello, winning the Laurence Olivier award. After another ensemble venture with 2012 (2009), the busy actor starred as a government agent in the Angelina Jolie spy thriller Salt (2010).

The year 2013 was major for Ejiofor. He reunited with Mamet to be featured in the HBO biopic Spector and, in the summer, appeared in the Joe Wright play Season of the Congo, in which Ejiofor portrayed Patrice Lumumba. The actor also starred in the film Half of a Yellow Sun—a drama about the Biafran War based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2013. October saw the U.S. limited release of 12 Years a Slave, a biopic by British director Steve McQueen in which Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a free African-American musician who was kidnapped and forced into bondage during the 1840s.

After the success of 12 Years a Slave, Ejiofor tackled an interesting mix of projects. He received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in 2014's Dancing on the Edge, a cable miniseries set in the 1930s in which he played British jazz band leader Louis Lester. On the big screen in 2015, Ejiofor revisited the worlds of sci-fi, appearing in the post-apocalyptic tale Z for Zachariah with Chris Pine and Margot Robbie and later that year playing a NASA executive in Ridley Scott's The Martian. The fall season also saw Ejiofor portraying a police investigator in the thriller remake Secret in Their Eyes, opposite Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts.

Chiwetel Ejiofor Personal Life

Ejiofor is currenty not married and currently resides in Los Angeles, California in the United States. His younger sister, Zain Asher, is a financial news reporter at CNN based in New York. He is close friends with Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba and Andrew Lincoln. In Aprol 2007, he published a book titled "Chiwetel Ejiofor on Othello", co-authored with Julian Curry.

Chiwetel Ejiofor Awards

Ejiofor was nominated for the 2001 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (2000 season) for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "Blue/Orange" at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe stage. He was awarded the Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the 2000 London Critics Circle Theatre Awards (Drama) for his performance in "Blue/Orange" at the Royal National Theatre: Lyttelton and at the Duchess Theatre. He was awarded the 2000 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performance in "Blue/Orange". He was also awarded the 2008 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (2007 season) for Best Actor for his performance as the title role in William Shakespeare's "Othello" at the Donmar Warehouse.

In 2008, he was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) at Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama. In 2015, he was honoured with a Global Promise Award by The GEANCO Foundation, a non-profit welfare organization in West Africa for his charity work in Nigeria.