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
Chiwetel Ejiofor quotes about
characters dresses hours makeup mood soon three
The three hours of makeup put me in the mood every morning. That was easy. As soon as you get into the dresses and the hair, you feel the transformation starting. If only all my characters could be so clear.
great life rule since takes work
Since I started acting, I always or often find work takes precedence with me. And that is not necessarily a great rule for life.
deserves quite shocked
I didn't know anything about '12 Years a Slave.' Not the book, not Solomon Northup, which I was quite shocked by, once I'd read it, that it wasn't a seminal text. I think it deserves to be.
access emotions express expressing feelings felt great moment oneself range school stage suddenly surprised thoughts
I was probably 14 or 15 when I was first on stage at school doing 'Measure for Measure.' I immediately felt it was a great way of expressing oneself at a moment when I didn't think I could express myself, really. I suddenly had access to this range of emotions and thoughts and feelings that were there in me. I was surprised by that.
bit extremely hair looked makeup means opposed question tough whether worked
That's a tough question to answer. I thought the look worked extremely well. I don't know whether that means I looked pretty, but I thought I looked like Lola would look, as opposed to what I would look like with a little bit of hair and makeup on. You know?
bit fill plot
Sometimes television can just jump from one bit of plot to the next, and the words fill in the in-between.
felt good job meant quickly realised until work
I was able to go on stage and work until it felt right or felt good. It meant that I very quickly realised that it was the job for me.
school
Friends at school were always quite shocked that we holidayed in Nigeria, but it was all pretty middle-class, really.
experience younger
I think, as a younger actor, you are more open to the experience. And to an extent, you want to go into things blind and energised as if you were 15. Keep that terror.
amazing contact life people remarkable stories
Solomon Northup is one of the most remarkable people I've ever encountered in my life; one of the most amazing stories I have ever been in any kind of contact with. To not tell that story would have been disgraceful, in my opinion.
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.
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.
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.
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.