Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor, CBE, is a British actor. After enrolling at the National Youth Theatre in 1995, and gaining a scholarship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, at age 19 and three months into his course, Ejiofor was cast by Steven Spielberg to play a supporting part in the film Amistad as James Covey...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth10 July 1977
interviews aspect term
Reporters tend to launch on what seems to be the clearest, most stark aspects of someone's life in terms of an interview.
challenges sophisticated feels
I feel that audiences are very sophisticated, and part of my challenge is to keep them engaged because they are so complex.
eyebrows firsts disturbed
When I first had my eyebrows waxed, I was pretty disturbed.
drama school college
Depending on what your interest in theater is, I always recommend working on plays. It's a great way to be introduced to the field, and also a great way to be seen by agents and representation. I'm also a great advocate for studying acting at a drama school or a college.
art school play
I became an actor by doing school plays and youth theaters, and then National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. And then I did study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. For me that was a good way to enter the field, to work in the theater.
gigs firsts actors
I started working as an actor, semi-professionally, when I was 16, and got my first professional gig at 19. I guess I've kind of worked pretty consistently since then.
writing would-be directors
David Mamet was great to work with. He was everything that I thought he would be as a director. He's incredibly articulate, an easy collaborator. Extraordinarily knowledgeable about film and writing.
father moving people
A lot of people ask me about my father's passing when I was young, which I'm never comfortable with. I invariably move around that subject.
feelings way roles
I like to disappear into a role. I equate the success of it with a feeling of being chemically changed. That's the only way I can express it.
mean men rivers
The only way to be an actor is to find ways to work as an actor, even if that means doing a one-man show by a river.
children way middle-child
I was the classic middle child in some ways, the one who could have been a priest in an alternate universe.
eye excited i-can
Ive just tried to keep my eyes open, tried to read everything you can, and tried to see whether I see myself within it. If I do, then I can get excited about it.
pride awards joy
This is going to sound completely absurd, but I do sometimes feel like the enjoyment of an awards ceremony or the pride in the finished article hasn't ever surpassed the joy of doing the work, of making it. The doing it is really the bit I'm there for.
great life scripts spend traveling trying weird
It's a weird thing when you spend your life trying to find these great scripts and great parts. You are reading scripts, you are traveling the world, you are hassling your agent. You are trying to find that script.