Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor CBE is a British-Nigerian actor. He is the recipient of a British Academy Film Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Ejiofor was born in East London to Nigerian parents. His father was a doctor, and mother a pharmacist. His younger sister, Zain, is a CNN correspondent. At the age of 11, Ejiofor sadly lost his father in a car accident during a family trip to Nigeria.
In 1995, Ejiofor enrolled at the National Youth Theatre and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. At age 19, he was cast by Steven Spielberg to play a supporting role in the film Amistad (1997). He has appeared in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Kinky Boots, Four Brothers, and 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he received an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Recently his film appearances included the Disney Marvel films, Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
In 2008, Ejiofor was granted an OBE for services to the arts and then a CBE in 2015.
Ref: Chiwetel Ejiofor – Wikipedia
Image credit; Bill Ingalls – https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/21339082125/