Chiwetel Ejiofor

Born in the London neighborhood of Forest Gate, on July 10, 1977, Chiwetelu Umeadi Ejiofor comes from a couple of Nigerian emigrants formed by Arinze (doctor) and Oblajuli (pharmacist). When he was 11 years old, he survived a car accident that killed his father.

“I think the person who has inspired me the most throughout my life is my father,” Ejiofor said. “He was a doctor but also a musician, so I inherited the creative streak from him. It was also thanks to him that I learned to love Shakespeare’s sonnets. He died at the age of 39, and as I get closer to that age I have a more acute and reflective relationship with him, with my memory of him. My father inspires everything I do.”

To try to overcome the misfortune, at the age of 13 he participated in school functions. Thanks to a scholarship she was able to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

He immediately stood out on the scene in the British capital and went on to win the prestigious Olivier Award for best actor for his leading role in a production of “Othello.” In the cinema he made his debut by the hand of Steven Spielberg himself , in a film about slavery, Amistad , where he was the interpreter of the American army. Interestingly, he was starring in the film Matthew McConaughey , destined to be his biggest rival for the Oscar years later.

Never breaking the ground, Chiwetel Ejiofor has worked with A-list filmmakers such as Stephen Frears , who turned him into a Nigerian who discovered his boss was involved in human organ trafficking, in Undercover Business .

He was head of the mob in Four Brothers , by John Singleton , the man recently married to Keira Knightley , in Love Actually , by Richard Curtis , brother of Denzel Washington , in American Gangster , by Ridley Scott , Scientist in 2012 , by Roland Emmerich , detective in Spike Lee ‘s Hidden Plan , assassin in Joss Whedon ‘s Serenity , jiu-jitsu trainer in David Mamet ‘s Red Belt , and has even worked withWoody Allen , as Melinda’s idyllic boyfriend ( Radha Mitchell ), in Melinda and Melinda .

“All the great directors I’ve worked with have great control and authority,” the actor explained. “But at the same time they are able to allow the magic to happen, to create an ideal atmosphere so that their actors feel that they can explore and make the most of their abilities.”

But he stood out especially in the apocalyptic Children of Men , by Alfonso Cuarón , where he was a member of a resistance group against the despotic government, in a world in which humanity had lost the ability to have offspring.

Chiwetel Ejiofor has also been featured on television. Among other jobs, he played South African politician Thabo Mbeki in the end-apartheid TV movie Endgame , and a prosecutor in Phil Spector .

His life has been changed by director Steve McQueen , who cast him as the lead in his third feature film, 12 Years a Slave . Ejiofor did an extraordinary job in the shoes of a real character, Solomon Northup, a free African-American who in 1841 was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The actor shines in the hardest sequences, especially the hanging one.

The film has done well in awards season and has garnered 9 Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor. “It has been a transforming experience,” he commented on the filming. “I don’t feel like the same person who picked up the director, McQueen, on the phone to talk about the movie for the first time. It’s been a journey that has changed me. I can’t say exactly how, but he did it.”

Chiwetel Ejiofor is often romantically involved with actresses. He had a long-term relationship with Naomie Harris  ( Skyfall ), whom he has replaced with the completely unknown Sari Mercer ( Jatt & Juliet ), with whom – according to rumors – he could go down the aisle.