Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor is a British-Nigerian actor, writer, director, and philanthropist. He is renowned for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in the movie 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

Chiwetel attended Dulwich College in South-East London and at the young age of 13, he was already appearing in numerous school and National Youth Theatre productions.  At the age of 19, Chiwetel caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, a top Hollywood movie director who casted him in the critically acclaimed Amistad movie in 1997 alongside Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins.

In 2000, he starred in Blue/Orange at the Royal National Theatre (Cottesloe stage), and later at the Duchess Theatre. That same year, his performance as Romeo in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30.

Chiwetel was awarded the Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the 2000 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for his performance in Blue/Orange. He received the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer in 2000 and a 2001 nomination for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award Best Supporting Actor.

In 2002, Chiwetel starred in the movie Dirty Pretty Things, for which he won a British Independent Film Award for best actor. Chiwetel was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honors by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He was elevated to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Birthday Honors. In the same year, he made his directorial debut in the short film Slapper.

Chiwetel balanced his film and television commitments with several prestigious stage productions. In 2008, his portrayal of the title role in Michael Grandage’s “Othello” at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Ewan McGregor was universally applauded and won him best actor at the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards and Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

His other stage roles include previously mentioned Roger Michell’s “Blue/Orange” in 2000 which received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play, and the same year Tim Supple’s “Romeo and Juliet” in which Ejiofor portrayed the title role. His television appearance in the emotional drama Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) alongside Toni Collette, Sophie Okonedo and Tim Roth earned him a nomination for a Golden Globe Award as well as an NAACP Image award. Chiwetel Ejiofor also appeared in such notable films as Endgame (2009), Channel 4’s moving drama set in South Africa for which his performance earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries.

In 2013, he starred in Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the film. In 2019, he had his directorial debut with the movie, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The movie got nominated for the British Independent Film Awards.

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In 2015, Chiwetel was honored with a Global Promise Award by the GEANCO Foundation, a non-profit welfare organization for his charity work in Nigeria alongside fellow actor David Oyelowo for their commitment to providing better educational opportunities for young children in Nigeria. Other charities Chiwetel supports include the United Nations Development Program.

Chiwetel is an inspiration and we are so proud.