Five star turns
Electric Ejiofor...
Dirty Pretty Things 2002
Ejiofor truly made viewers, critics and directors sit up with his profound turn as a Nigerian immigrant who stumbles upon an illegal surgery scheme. “It was important to play him not as someone who was declamatory or excessive,” says Ejiofor. “He’s dealing with trauma and stress and internalising his emotions.”
Serenity 2005 Joss Whedon’s (sp)ace adventure is a spinoff of his cancelled TV show,
Firefly, with the crew of the titular craft flying into an intergalactic conspiracy. There’s smart action, snappy oneliners and squabbles in technobabble. Ejiofor is the big bad, playing it calm and composed. “It’s a terrifically written role,” he says. “Strong, incredibly detailed.”
Kinky Boots 2005
From the team who gave us Calendar Girls (wait, come back…) comes the uplifting tale of Joel Edgerton’s Northampton shoe factory, staving off closure by specialising in glamorous boots for transvestites. Our man is resplendent as Simon/Lola, looking killer in sequins. “It was like I had been released,” he grins of the first time he slipped on the wig.
2012 2009 With Doctor Strange pipelined, don’t forget that Ejiofor is no stranger to spectacle having starred in Roland Emmerich’s global disaster movie (it took $700m) and, the following year, Angelina Jolie action-vehicle Salt. Ejiofor’s scientist lends soul to 2012’ s set-pieces as he’s besieged by callous government types. “He’s naive, caught in the centre of it all,” laughs the actor.
12 Years A Slave
2013
Steve McQueen’s Best Picture winner coolly records the most barbaric cruelties and would be unbearable were it not for the inextinguishable human spirit flaming behind Ejiofor’s eyes. “The inherited tradition is that we don’t tell stories about slavery from the perspective of the slave,” he says. “It’s through the president or the lawyer.”