50 facts about Chiwetel Ejiofor: was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts

50 facts you didn't know about English actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.

1. Chiwetelu Umeadi "Chiwetel" Ejiofor, CBE is an English actor, director, and writer.

2. He enrolled in National Youth Theatre in 1995.

3. After enrolling at the National Youth Theatre 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.

4. Ejiofor is known for his portrayal of Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things, the Operative in Serenity, Lola in Kinky Boots, Luke in Children of Men, and Dr. Adrian Helmsley in 2012.

5. He played Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave.

6. For his role in 12 Years a Slave he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

7. He was nominated for a 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance in Dancing on the Edge.

8. Ejiofor has received numerous awards and nominations for acting, including the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award in 2006, five Golden Globe Award nominations, and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in Othello in 2008.

9. In 2008, he was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts.

10. He was elevated to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Birthday Honours.

11. Ejiofor was born in London's Forest Gate.

12. He was botn to Nigerian parents of Igbo origin.

13. His father, Arinze, was a doctor.

14. His mother, Obiajulu, was a pharmacist.

15. He has a younger sister.

16. His younger sister is CNN correspondent Zain Asher.

17. Ejiofor began acting in school plays at the age of thirteen at Dulwich College and joined the National Youth Theatre.

18. He played the title role in Othello at the Bloomsbury Theatre in September 1995, and again at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow in 1996, when he starred opposite Rachael Stirling as Desdemona.

19. Ejiofor made his film debut in the television film Deadly Voyage in 1996.

20. He went on to become a stage actor in London.

21. In Steven Spielberg's Amistad, he gave support to Djimon Hounsou's Cinque as interpreter Ens. James Covey.

22. In 1999, he appeared in the British film G:MT - Greenwich Mean Time.

23. In 2000, he starred in Blue/Orange at the Royal National Theatre, and later at the Duchess Theatre.

24. His performance as Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award.

25. Ejiofor was awarded the Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2000.

26. For his performance in Blue/Orange, Ejiofor received the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer in 2000 and a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2001.

27. Ejiofor had his first leading film role in 2002's Dirty Pretty Things, for which he won a British Independent Film Award for best actor.

28. He was part of the ensemble cast of Love Actually, starred in a BBC adaptation of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale.

29. He also starred in the BBC series Trust.

30. Also in 2003, he starred in the lead role of Augustus in the radio production of Rita Dove's poetic drama "The Darker Face of the Earth", which premiered on the BBC World Service on 23 August of that year, marking the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

31. He starred alongside Hilary Swank in 2004's Red Dust, portraying the fictional politician Alex Mpondo of post-apartheid South Africa.

32. He played the central part of Prince Alamayou in Peter Spafford's radio play I Was a Stranger, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 17 May 2004, and he played the god Dionysus, alongside Paul Scofield's Cadmus and Diana Rigg's Agave, in Andrew Rissik's play, Dionysus, based upon Euripides' Bacchae, also broadcast by the BBC.

33. He played Mike Terry, in the cult film Redbelt that received favourable reviews.

34. He also received acclaim for his performance as a complex antagonist The Operative in the 2005 film Serenity.

35. Ejiofor played a revolutionary in the 2006 film Children of Men.

36. His singing and acting performance in Kinky Boots received a Golden Globe Award and British Independent Film Award nomination.

37. He was also nominated for the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award in 2006, which recognises emerging British film talent.

38. He made his directorial debut in the short film Slapper in 2008, which he also wrote, based on an idea by editor/director Yusuf Pirhasan.

39. At the Toronto International Film Festival, Ejiofor said he briefly hesitated about playing Northup. "You wait all your life for a great script to come through the door. You're hassling your agent and all that, and then it comes and you read it and your first reaction surprises you. Your first reaction being, 'Can I do this?'" He accepted the role about 24 hours later.

40. As part of his preparation for the role Northup, Ejiofor learned to play the violin, collected slave stories, maintained a slave's edge up hairstyle, and engaged in some of the physical labour that Northup did like picking cotton.

41. Since he had not worked with McQueen before, Ejiofor also observed the working dynamic between the director and co-star Michael Fassbender, who worked with McQueen on Hunger and Shame.

42. On playing Northup, Ejiofor did feel a responsibility, not being American, to get the story of Solomon Northup as current he could, adding "I've been very grateful to show the film to his descendants and see them be so proud of it."

43. On 16 January 2014, Ejiofor was officially nominated for Best Actor for the 86th Academy Awards on 2 March.

44. In 2014, Ejiofor starred in the Nigerian film Half of a Yellow Sun alongside Thandie Newton. The film recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and London International Film Festival and is set for worldwide release in 2014.

45. He also plays Patrice Lumumba in a film adaptation of Aimé Césaire's A Season in the Congo, a role in which he performed at the Young Vic in 2013

46. In 2015, it was announced that Ejifor had been cast as Baron Mordo in the 2016 film Doctor Strange.

47. Ejiofor was in a relationship with a Canadian actress and model Sari Mercer.

48. Ejiofor's performance in Tsunami: The Aftermath received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film in 2007.

49. In 2007, Ejiofor starred opposite Don Cheadle in Talk to Me, a film based on the true story of Ralph "Petey" Greene, an African-American radio personality in the 1960s and '70s.

50. He performed on stage in The Seagull at the Royal Court Theatre from 18 January to 17 March 2007, then later that year reprised his role as Othello at the Donmar Warehouse, alongside Kelly Reilly as Desdemona and Ewan McGregor as Iago.

Source: Wikipedi.org