Starlight Spotlight on Chiwetel Ejiofor

Oscar Buzz for “12 Years a Slave”

Although this man needs no introduction, I will nevertheless go through the motions for the benefit of those who (gasp!!) may not know him. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a British actor of Nigerian descent. His parents fled Nigeria during the Biafran war to seek stability and safety in England and they worked very hard to give Chiwetel and his 3 siblings access to the best possible education and opportunities in their new country. In 2002 interview with The Telegraph, explained it this way,

"I am forever grateful to them," Chiwe says. "My family was incredibly worried by the nature of aggression towards people with a different skin color. They worked hard to make sure we weren't in an environment that could easily lead to us being thrown into a cruel underclass of society, something they witnessed happening all around them. They were terrified about what this country would do to their children." (The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk). Read the entire article here.

Chiwetel has had a fantastic career in acting, scoring major roles in several blockbuster films over the years. Some of these include, “Amistad” (1997), “Kinky Boots” (2005) and one of my favorite movies in the whole world, “Love Actually” (2003). However, his most recent work in the movie, “12 Years a Slave” is being touted as the role of his lifetime. There are even strong opinions being expressed about him being a strong contender to be honored with the Academy Award for Best Actor at next year’s Oscars.

Chiwetel Ejiofor on the couch with The Queen (whom I love and adore!!) on The Queen Latifah Show.

(Video courtesy of The Queen Latifah Show and www.youtube.com)

While preparing for the role, Chiwetel took a tour through Savannah, Georgia and participated in activities like picking cotton, in order to get a better idea of some of the work that slaves did back in the 1800s. He also got to see a wall to which slaves were often chained after they came off the ships from Africa. Chiwetel connected deeply to this experience especially when he was told that Igbo slaves from Nigeria were among the groups brought into the United States through that location. Chiwetel’s family is of Igbo origin, the tribe that was also most affected during the Biafran war (hence the decision to relocate to England).

By all accounts, “12 Years a Slave” is one of the year’s best movie but this is not surprising because the movie’s director, Steve McQueen appears to have succeeded in assembling an uber-talented cast. Aside from Ejiofor, the cast also includes Brad Pitt and Alfre Woodward (whom I love and adore!!!). It is quite apparent that these actors worked very hard and cared very deeply about giving a powerful on-screen performance in order to do justice to the story and honor Solomon Northrup’s life and legacy (the movie is based on his memoir of these true life events.)

Now we have all been taught in History class that thousands of free blacks were kidnapped during that era and resold into slavery. However, it is not often that we get the opportunity to see such experiences adapted into a blockbuster movie for the edification of the general public. For this reason, special thanks go out to Steve McQueen for not allowing the multiple challenges he must have faced to stop him from making this movie. It is a story that needed to be told and told to a mainstream audience, not an Indie one (nothing against Indie audiences, please don’t send me hate mail! I love Indie films, read my blog!). So thanks Mr. McQueen, for being a voice to those who could not make themselves heard. We salute and appreciate you!

XOXO,

Starlight.