Chiwetel Ejiofor
Birthdate: Jul 10, 1977
Birthplace: Forest Gate, London, England, UK
Chiwetel Ejiofor (birthname: Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor) has enjoyed an especially distinguished acting film career, having collaborated with a remarkable range of major filmmakers. Ejiofor was cast for his feature debut by Steven Spielberg for his American slave-era drama, Amistad (1997), and this pattern persisted from 2002 onwards, first with British filmmaker Stephen Frears in his first major starring role in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), co-starring Audrey Tatou, Sergi Lopez, Sophie Okonedo and Benedict Wong and premiering at the Venice Film Festival and quickly followed by fellow Brit comedy filmmaker Richard Curtis for a supporting role in the hit $250-million-grossing rom-com, Love Actually (2003), with Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy and Rowan Atkinson.
Ejiofor has worked with American indie filmmaker Spike Lee twice, first in She Hate Me (2004), starring Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington, and then in Lee’s action thriller and highest-grossing movie ($184.4 million), Inside Man (2006), co-starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster.
Ejiofor has also acted for filmmaker Ridley Scott two times, starting with the hit crime biopic (earning $266 million globally), American Gangster (2007), starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, and then in another supporting role in Scott’s well-received adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-seller, The Martian (2015), starring Matt Damon and grossing a potent $630 million worldwide.
Chiwetel Ejiofor starred or co-starred in a notable run of performances for major director-writers including Tom Hooper (Red Dust (2004)), Woody Allen (Melinda and Melinda (2004)), John Singleton (Four Brothers (2005)), Joss Whedon (Serenity (2005)), Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men (2006)), Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me (2007)), David Mamet (Redbelt (2008)), Roland Emmerich (2012 (2009)) and Phillip Noyce (Salt (2010)).
Ejiofor gained his greatest acclaim and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his astounding lead performance as kidnap victim-turned-slave Solomon Northrup in British filmmaker Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning 19th century true drama, 12 Years a Slave (2013), co-starring Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Oscar-winning Lupita Nyong’o, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Alfre Woodard, and grossing $187 million globally.
Ejiofor joined American filmmaker Craig Zobel as lead in the apocalyptic sci-fi drama, Z for Zachariah (2015), with Margot Robbie and Chris Pine, soon followed by Ejiofor partnering as star with director-writer Billy Ray for the English-language remake of Juan Jose Campanella’s 2009 drama, Secret in Their Eyes (2015), with Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts, and then with filmmaker John Hillcoat as co-lead in the heist thriller, Triple 9 (2016), with Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Clifton Collins Jr., Woody Harrelson and Michael K. Williams.
Ejiofor continued to display his exceptional range in one of his rare voice roles with filmmaker Jon Favreau in the photorealistic remake of Disney’s The Lion King (2019), with the voices of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Alfre Woodard, John Kani, Beyoncé and James Earl Jones, and which turned in the highest gross for any of Ejiofor’s movies with $1.6 billion worldwide.
Chiwetel Ejiofor continued to consistently work with signature directors into the new decade, including Sophie Barthes on The Pod Generation (2023), co-starring Emilia Clarke and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before a theatrical release by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment; with filmmaker Michael Almereyda on Tonight at Noon (date to be announced) based on Jonathan Lethem’s novel and co-starring Lauren Ambrose and Connie Nielsen; and with Scarlett Johansson on her feature directorial debut, Eleanor the Great (date to be announced), co-starring June Squibb and Jessica Hecht and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics and TriStar Pictures in their first joint release.
Ejiofor himself has directed and written (as well as co-starred in) two features: his BFI-backed feature debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2020), based on the book by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before being selected as the UK’s entry in the Oscar’s Best International Feature Film contest; followed by the biopic Rob Peace (2024), based on Jeff Hobbs’ 2014 biography, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, and co-starring Jay Will and Mary J. Blige, with a Republic Pictures theatrical release.
Ejiofor has had supporting roles in such big studio tentpole movies as Disney’s sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), starring Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning, and as Karl Mordo in Marvel’s Doctor Strange (2016) and the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), starring Benedict Cumberbatch and both with co-stars Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong and Michael Stuhlbarg, and grossing a combined $1.6 billion.
Ejiofor joined another Marvel Comics-based franchise with a co-starring role in the Tom Hardy-starring sequel, Venom: The Last Dance (2024), and then he appeared in the long-awaited sequel, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025), starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Emma Thompson, under Michael Morris’ direction.
Personal Details
Chiwetel Ejiofor was born and raised in London, England by his Nigerian-born parents Arinze (doctor) and Obiajulu (pharmacist). Zain (CNN correspondent) and Kandi (doctor) are Ejiofor’s two sisters. Ejiofor attended Dulwich College Preparatory School and Dulwich College, where he performed in both stage productions. Ejiofor became a National Youth Theatre member, then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art for a year before his professional career took off. Ejiofor’s height is 5’ 10½ ”. Ejiofor’s estimated net worth is $16 million.
Filmography
actor
Previous (15)
- 2024 | Venom: The Last DanceasStrickland
Venom: The Last Dance
Eddie and Venom, on the run, face pursuit from both worlds. As circumstances tighten, they're compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership.
- 2024 |
- 2023 | The Pod GenerationasAlvy Novy
The Pod Generation
In a not-so-distant future, tech giant Pegazus offers couples the opportunity to share their pregnancies via detachable artificial wombs or pods. And so begins Rachel and Alvy's wild ride to parenthood in this brave new world.
- 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessasBaron Mordo
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl from his dreams who can travel across multiverses, to battle multiple threats, including other-universe versions of himself, which threaten to wipe out millions across the mul...
- 2019 | Maleficent: Mistress of EvilasConall
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies, and dark new forces at play.
- 2019 | The Lion KingasScar
The Lion King
After the murder of his father, a young lion prince flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery.
- 2019 | Mary Magdalene: 2019 Re-releaseasPeter
Mary Magdalene: 2019 Re-release
Twelve men heard and spread the message of Jesus. Only one woman understood it.
- 2018 | Sherlock GnomesasDr. Watson
Sherlock Gnomes
Garden gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet recruit renowned detective Sherlock Gnomes to investigate the mysterious disappearance of other garden ornaments.
- 2016 | Doctor StrangeasMordo
Doctor Strange
While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.
- 2016 |
- 2015 | Secret in Their EyesasRay Kasten
Secret in Their Eyes
A tight-knit team of rising investigators, along with their supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
- 2013 | 12 Years a SlaveasSolomon Northup
12 Years a Slave
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- 2010 |
- 2003 | Love ActuallyasPeter
Love Actually
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
- 1997 |
Some Facts About Chiwetel Ejiofor
Philanthropy: Chiwetel Ejiofor received the Global Promise Award in 2015 for his extensive charity work in Africa for the West African non-profit welfare group The GEANCO Foundation; Ejiofor has also supported the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.
Family Tragedy: Ejiofor survived a car crash in Nigeria that killed his father in 1988 when Ejiofor was age 11.
Marvelous: Chiwetel Ejiofor is one of the few actors to appear in multiple Marvel franchises (the Doctor Strange and Venom series) and portray different characters—Karl Mordo in the former and Rex Strickland in the latter—rather than continue the same character across franchises.
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