Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Highest Rated: 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- Lowest Rated: Slow Burn (2007)
- Birthday: Jul 10, 1974
- Birthplace: Forest Gate, London, England
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Some say that the eyes are a window into one's soul, and few actors are gifted enough to make an audience truly believe the plight of the characters they portray; despite their best efforts, their eyes often betray their abilities and we still recognize the actor playing the character. With his honest eyes, sincere smile, and unmistakable onscreen presence, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor possesses the rare ability to internalize his characters to an unusually realistic degree -- an ability that has gained him increasing recognition in the arena of world cinema. Ejiofor was born to Nigerian parents in Forest Gate, East London; his father was a doctor and his mother a pharmacist. Though his calling may not have been readily apparent in his early childhood, by the time Ejiofor was 13, the aspiring young actor was taking to the stage in numerous school and National Youth Theater productions. His love of the stage growing with each passing year, by the time Ejiofor got to Dulwich College, his calling was clear. Soon attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he gained a reputation as a formidable stage talent, and following appearances in high-profile productions at the Almeida Theater Company and the Royal National Theater, Ejiofor's talents found him drawn to the medium of television, where he would make his debut in the 1996 made-for-TV thriller Deadly Voyage. It wasn't long before Ejiofor's talent caught the eye of legendary film director Steven Spielberg, and the following year, the up-and-coming actor was back on the high seas for Spielberg's historical drama Amistad. Of course, a role in such a high-profile release was bound to attract the attention of other filmmakers as well, and though Ejiofor would remain true to his theater roots, he would balance his stage work with roles in such films as Greenwich Mean Time (1999), It Was an Accident, and Mind Games (both 2000). Cast opposite Amélie star Audrey Tautou in Stephen Frears' 2001 drama thriller Dirty Pretty Things, Ejiofor essayed the role of a Nigerian immigrant living in London who makes a horrible discovery that puts his life in grave danger. It was glaringly obvious to any who had seen his performances that Ejiofor was one to look out for, and his winning performance as a hedonistic lawyer in the 2003 British miniseries Trust only served to cement the fact that his career was on the fast track. Remaining on the small screen for Twelfth Night, or What you Will and The Canterbury Tales (both 2003), Ejiofor would subsequently return to the big screen for Love Actually (2003) and Slow Burn (2004), a pair of films that virtually ensured him a high recognition factor and a bright future on stage and screen. He continued to work steadily in a variety of character roles. He anchored the dramatic sections of Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda in 2004. He showed of his remarkable versatility in 2005 with roles in the urban thriller Four Brothers, the science fiction film Serenity, and starring as a flamboyant cross-dresser in the comedy Kinky Boots. In 2006 he worked with a pair of high-powered directors. He played the partner to Denzel Washington's hostage negotiator in the hit thriller Inside Man, and played a large part in Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.In 2007 he played opposite Don Cheadle in the biopic Talk to Me, and he was the lead in David Mamet's 2008 drama Redbelt playing a martial-arts expert. The next year he appeared in the disaster epic 2012, and he was in the Angelina Jolie action film Salt in 2010. In 2013, Ejiofor had a huge breakthrough playing enslaved Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, earning him his first Oscar nomination.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
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12 Years a Slave
95% -
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Children of Men
92% -
The Martian
91%
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | Actor | — | 2019 | |
| 53% | The Lion King | Scar | — | 2019 |
| 46% | Mary Magdalene | Peter | — | 2019 |
| 85% | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind | Actor Screenwriter Director | — | 2019 |
| 27% | Sherlock Gnomes | Watson | — | 2018 |
| 80% | The Elephant Queen | Actor | — | 2018 |
| 68% | Come Sunday | Carlton Pearson | — | 2018 |
| 89% | Doctor Strange | Baron Mordo | $232.7M | 2016 |
| 53% | Triple 9 | Michael Atwood | — | 2016 |
| Marching Powder | Thomas McFadden | — | 2016 | |
| 39% | Secret in Their Eyes | Ray | — | 2015 |
| 91% | The Martian | Venkat Kapoor | $202.4M | 2015 |
| 78% | Z For Zachariah | Loomis | $0.2M | 2015 |
| National Theatre Live: Everyman | Actor | — | 2015 | |
| National Theatre Live: Everyman Encore | Actor | — | 2015 | |
| 51% | Half of a Yellow Sun | Odenigbo | $54.1K | 2014 |
| 95% | 12 Years a Slave | Solomon Northup | $50.7M | 2013 |
| 13% | Savannah | Christmas Moultrie | $26.2K | 2013 |
| 49% | Phil Spector | Mock Prosecutor | — | 2013 |
| 63% | Salt | Peabody | $118.4M | 2010 |
| Salt (Unrated) | Actor | — | 2010 | |
| 39% | 2012 | Adrian Helmsley | $166.2M | 2009 |
| 71% | Endgame | Thabo Mbeki | — | 2009 |
| 68% | Redbelt | Mike Terry | $2.3M | 2008 |
| 80% | American Gangster | Huey Lucas | $130.2M | 2007 |
| 82% | Talk to Me | Dewey Hughes | $4.5M | 2007 |
| 12% | Slow Burn | Trippin | $1.2M | 2007 |
| Tonight at Noon | Lee | — | 2007 | |
| 92% | Children of Men | Luke | $35.2M | 2006 |
| Tsunami, The Aftermath | Ian Carter | — | 2006 | |
| 56% | Kinky Boots | Lola | $1.7M | 2006 |
| 86% | Inside Man | Det. Bill Mitchell | $88.5M | 2006 |
| 83% | Serenity | The Operative | $25.4M | 2005 |
| 52% | Four Brothers | Victor Sweet | $74.5M | 2005 |
| 52% | Melinda and Melinda | Ellis | $3.8M | 2005 |
| 19% | She Hate Me | Frank Wills | $81.9K | 2004 |
| Red Dust | Alex Mpondo | — | 2004 | |
| 63% | Love Actually | Peter | $59.4M | 2003 |
| Twelfth Night | Actor | — | 2003 | |
| 94% | Dirty Pretty Things | Okwe | $8M | 2003 |
| 3 Blind Mice | Actor | — | 2003 | |
| Three Blind Mice | Mark Hayward | — | 2003 | |
| Mind Games | Actor | — | 2001 | |
| It Was an Accident | Actor | — | 2000 | |
| G:MT Greenwich Mean Time | Rix | — | 1999 | |
| 77% | Amistad | Covey | — | 1997 |
| This is My Africa | Actor | — | 1988 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
2015
|
Guest |
|
|
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The Late Late Show With James Corden
2015
|
Guest |
|
|
| 61% |
Dancing on the Edge
2013
|
Louis Lester |
|
|
Late Night With Seth Meyers
2014
|
Guest |
|
|
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The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
|
|
||
|
Late Show With David Letterman
1993-2015
|
Guest |
|
|
|
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
1999-2015
|
Guest |
|
|
|
The View
1997
|
Guest |
|
|
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live
2003
|
Guest |
|
|
| 57% |
The Shadow Line
2011
|
Jonah Gabriel |
|
|
Masterpiece
1971-2014
|
President Thabo Mbeki |
|
|
|
Earth from Space
2019
|
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QUOTES FROM Chiwetel Ejiofor CHARACTERS
- Adrian Helmsley
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Yes sir. Who are you bringing?
- Carl Anheuser
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Nobody! Who, my ex wife? Last thing she said to me, never want to see you again. So be it.
- Baron Mordo
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Stephen Strange. Might I offer you some advice? Forget everything that you think you know.
- Ray
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Yeah, fuckhead. I took your comic book.
- Loomis
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This man could be anything.
- Adrian Helmsley
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There's a young astrophysicist from India who's the reason we're all here. He's the one who discovered it all. He connected all the dots. We all owe him our lives. I just learned that he was killed with his family in a tsunami in Eastern India. He was my friend. And he died in vain. Everybody out there has died in vain if we start our future with an act of cruelty. What will you tell your children? What will they tell theirs.
- Laura Wilson
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If my father were here, he would open the gates.
- President Sergey Makarenko
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The people of Russia along with China, and Japan agree. Open the gates.
- German Chancellor
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The United Kingdom, Spain, France, Canada, Germany and I believe I may also speak for the Italian Prime Minister we vote to let these people come in.
- Solomon Northup
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I am Solomon Northup. I am a free man; a resident of Saratoga, New York. The residence also of my wife and children who are equally free. I have papers. You have no right whatsoever to detain me...
- Solomon Northup
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I will not fall into despair! I will keep myself hardy until freedom is opportune!
- Solomon Northrup
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I don't want to survive. I want to live.
- Ford
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I believe Tibeats is skulkin' about the premises somewhere. He wants you dead, and he will attempt to have you so. It's no longer safe for you here. And I don't believe you will remain passive if Tibeats attacks. I have transferred my debt to Edwin Epps. He will take charge of you.
- Solomon Northrup
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Master Ford, you must know; I am not a slave.
- Ford
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I cannot hear that.
- Solomon Northrup
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Before I came to you I was a free man.
- Ford
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I am trying to save your life! And... I have a debt to be mindful of. That, now, is to Edwin Epps. He is a hard man. Prides himself on being a "nigger breaker." But truthfully I could find no others who would have you. You've made a reputation of yourself. Whatever your circumstances, you are an exceptional nigger, Platt. I fear no good will come of it.
- Lola
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Perhaps what women secretly desire is a man who is fundamentally a woman.
- Solomon Northrup
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[Upon meeting his family again after 12 years] I apologize for my appearance. But I have had a difficult time these past several years.
- Solomon Northrup
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I apologize for my appearance, but I have had a difficult time these past several years.
- Solomon Northup
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I survive. I will not fall into despair. I will offer up my talents to Master Ford. I will keep myself hardy till freedom is opportune.
- Eliza
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So you settle into your role as Platt then?
- Solomon Northup
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My back is thick with scars for protesting my freedom.
- Clemens
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Survival is not about certain death. It's about keeping your head down.
- Solomon Northrup
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Days ago I was with my family, in my home. Now you're telling me all that's lost? Tell no one who I am, that's the way to survive? Well, I don't want to survive. I want to live.
- Solomon Northup
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I don't want to survive. I want to live.
- Solomon Northrup
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I'm a free man!
- Scotty
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It's been upgraded to a 10.9 by the guys at Harvard.
- Adrian Helmsley
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What does Caltech have to say?
- Professor West
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The whole city of Pasadena was wiped out just a few minutes ago. This is coming in from Coachella Valley out near Joshua Tree. That wasn't there this morning. And 400 miles further north, Point Reyes, same thing.
- Adrian Helmsley
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The San Andreas Fault is shifting.
- Professor West
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Yes. And all major sister faults in the Bay Area. The whole Pacific plate is destabilizing.
- Okwe
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We are the people you do not see. We are the ones who drive your cabs, we clean your rooms...
- Okwe
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We are the people you do not see. We are the ones who drive your cabs, we clean your rooms.
- Det. Bill Mitchell
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Let me see your shoe
- Det. Bill Mitchell
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Let me see your shoe.
- Detective Keith Frazier
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Why?
- Det. Bill Mitchell
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'cause I have never seen anybody put their foot that far up ......
- Det. Bill Mitchell
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'cause I have never seen anybody put their foot that far up...
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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Shot me in the back. I haven't.. made you angry, have I?
- River Tam
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There's a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now.
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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You have no idea how true that is. I know the secret now. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain and set you after her. And the rest of the 'verse is gonna know it too. 'Cause they need to
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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You have no idea how true that is. I know the secret now. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain and set you after her. And the rest of the 'verse is gonna know it too. 'Cause they need to.
- The Operative
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You really believe that?
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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I do.
- The Operative
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You willing to die for that belief?
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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I am... .course that ain't excactly plan A!
- The Operative
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That girl will reign destruction down on your ship, she is a albatross Captain.
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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Way I hear albatross was a ships good luck till some idiot killed it. Yes I've read a poem try not to faint
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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Way I hear albatross was a ships good luck till some idiot killed it. Yes I've read a poem try not to faint.
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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I never credited the Alliance with a over abundance of brains and if you're the best they got-
- The Operative
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Captain Reynolds I should tell you so that you don't waste your time you can't make me angry
- The Operative
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Captain Reynolds I should tell you so that you don't waste your time you can't make me angry.
- Inara
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Please spend a hour with him!
- Ellis
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We're going to this little bistro in downtown west. It's very quiet, very dark, very french.
- Laurel
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I haven't been to a dark bistro since college.
- Ellis
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Well come on, you're going to love it. I've fallen in love there a bunch of times.
- Mike Terry
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there is no use opposing a force, you might as well run with it or deflect it
- Mike Terry
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There is no use opposing a force, you might as well run with it or deflect it.
- The Operative
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It's worse than you think.
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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It usually is.
- The Operative
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Do you know what your sin is?
- Capt. Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
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Aw, hell. I'm a fan of all seven. But right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath.
- Okwe
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I am not here to meet anyone in particular, but I am here to rescue those let down by the system.
- Professor West
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The Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago.
- Adrian Helmsley
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I thought we had more time.
- Adrian Helmsley
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The moment we stop fighting for each other, that's the moment we lose our humanity.
- Victor Sweet
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You don't pay a hoe to fuck ya, you pay her to leave.
- Victor Sweet
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You don't pay a ho to fuck you. You pay her to leave.
- Peabody
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How many are there like you?
- Peabody
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How many more like you are there?
- Evelyn Salt
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Like me? None. Like him? More than you or I can handle alone.
- Evelyn Salt
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Like me? None. Like him? Like him, more than you or I can handle alone.
- Adrian Helmsley
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The moment we stop fighting for each other, that's the moment we lose our humanity.
- Lola
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Look to the heel, young man. The sex is in the heel.