Chiwetel Ejiofor has over the last few years become one of the best character actors in the UK, with tonight seeing him return to our TV screens at the head of period drama Dancing On The Edge. So to celebrate his homecoming, we’ve gone through our DVD collections and looked at how he’s got himself right to the top of the mountain.
Anyone who’s second film is a Steven Spielberg epic must be destined for good things, and although it looked for a while as if Ejiofor would become another one of the “I know that guy” brigade, we’re so very, very glad that he’s now being put front and centre of one of the BBC’s biggest dramas this year.
It was in the world of film though that he made his name, taking the lead role in British immigration drama Dirty Pretty Things and grabbing supporting roles in films such as British rom-com Love Actually, critically adored sci-fi Children Of Me and taking a large role in the spy drama Salt.
While he was more capable for these smaller roles in massive films, it was when Ejiofor was given space to manoeuvre that he really started showing off his prowess. Making an uncharacteristically cold and villainous turn in cult sci-fi film Serenity, he almost stole every scene he was in.
It was in British drama Kinky Boots though that he really strutted his stuff, taking the role of a transvestite by the name of Lola who is brought in to transform the fortunes of an ailing boot factory in the North of England.
A role that could so easily have fallen into the realms of pastiche, Ejiofor made Lola a wonderful screen presence, not only showing off his incredible versatility, but his ability to give a character fantastic levels of pathos beyond anything written on a page.
He would unfortunately have to move to the world of TV to find another role that gave him the spotlight, but when he did, he became part of the one of the best dramas the BBC has put on in years. The sensationally complex and bleak The Shadow Line.
The utterly stunning crime drama had Ejiofor take on the role Jonah Gabriel, a detective with a bullet in his brain just waiting to kill him and a burning urge to get to the bottom of a murder that everyone wants him to leave alone. Many people named the show ‘The British Wire’, and while it may have been easy to do so, The Shadow Line easily competed with the best from the US.
A massive coup for the show, Ejiofor didn’t disappoint, with him being utterly beguiling and easily standing out from a cast list that goes so far beyond impressive, it can barely see normality it’s so full of stars.
It was his brilliant empathetic turn in the Shadow Line that makes us look forward to seeing him action once again so tantalising and something that may see him finally move out from the shadows of the support roles and finally become the leading man his talents should put him.
Tagged in TV Chiwetel Ejiofor Movies