Chiwetel Ejiofor Biography

English stage actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is best known internationally for his star performance in the 2002 movie Dirty Pretty Things (co-starring Audrey Tautou) and his Oscar-nominated performance as the lead in 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Ejiofor was born in London to Nigerian parents and started acting on stage as a teenager. Early in his career he was hired by Steven Spielberg for a small role in Amistad (1997, starring Morgan Freeman) and worked in British television. On stage he appeared in Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo) and Blue/Orange, which led to Ejiofor being hailed as the next great British actor. He has since appeared in the British TV series Trust (2003) and the movies Serenity (2005), Kinky Boots (2005), Spike Lee‘s Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006, starring Clive Owen), Ridley Scott‘s American Gangster (2007, starring Denzel Washington), David Mamet‘s Redbelt (2008) and The Martian (2015, starring Matt Damon).