Chiwetel Ejiofor is an acclaimed actor of film, television and stage with a wide range of roles in projects like 'Othello,' 'Serenity,' 'Kinky Boots' and '12 Years a Slave.'

Born on July 10, 1977, in London, England, Chiwetel Ejiofor was a stage actor before landing a part in the 1997 film Amistad. Many more projects were to follow, including Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Kinky Boots, Talk to Me, Redbelt and Othello. Having been nominated for three Golden Globes, Ejiofor earned further critical acclaim for his role as Solomon Northup in the biopic 12 Years a Slave. The film also earned Ejiofor an Academy Award nomination for best actor in 2014.
Background and Early Career

Actor Chiwetelu Umeadi Ejiofor was born on July 10, 1977, in the eastern part of London, England, to mother Obiajulu and father Arinze Ejiofor; both parents hailed from Nigeria, worked in medicine and had a prominent singing/performance career. The second of four siblings, Chiwetel 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 before eventually attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He made his television debut in the thriller Deadly Voyage (1996) and made his first film appearance in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997).

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.Some of the highlights: He received raves as a sleep-deprived taxi driver and hotel clerk with a medical background in the Stephen Frears thriller Dirty Pretty Things (2002), acting opposite Audrey Tatou. Ejiofor was then part of the large ensemble cast of 2003's Love Actually and later played villains in two notable sci-fi films—namely Joss Whedon's Serenity (2005) and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (2006). Ejiofor also collaborated with Spike Lee in the films She Hate Me (2004) and Inside Man (2006), working with co-star Denzel Washington in 2007's American Gangster as well.

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