‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures: Chiwetel Ejiofor’ to take place on Saturday 23 February
London, 23 January 2019: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has today announced that BAFTA-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor will discuss his career at a ‘BAFTA: A Life in Pictures’ event at on Saturday 23 February.
‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures’ is a long-running series of onstage interviews in which some of the film world’s leading talent share insights into the experiences that helped them hone and develop their craft. The series has previously hosted figures including Annette Bening, Kenneth Branagh, Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, David Fincher, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Sam Mendes, Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Vanessa Redgrave, Martin Scorsese, Kristin Scott Thomas, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Irons and Keira Knightley.
In 1996, Chiwetel caught the attention of Steven Spielberg who cast him in the critically acclaimed Amistad, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins. He returned to the big screen in Stephen Frears’ 2001 thriller Dirty Pretty Things for which his performance as ‘Okwe’ won him several Best Actor Awards. Since then Ejiofor has gone on to enjoy a varied career across stage and screen, appearing in critically acclaimed films including Love Actually, American Gangster, Kinky Boots, BAFTA and Oscar-nominated Children of Men, Salt, and Steve McQueen’s Oscar and BAFTA-winning 12 Years a Slave. Since his 2014 BAFTA-win, Chiwetel Ejiofor has been awarded a CBE for his services to Drama, as well as starred in a number of films including Oscar-nominated The Martian, thriller Z for Zachariah, Marvel film Doctor Strange, Mary Magdalene, and the animated Sherlock Gnomes.
Ejiofor won the BAFTA for Leading Actor in 2014 for his role as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, which also won Best Film, and earned him an Oscar-nomination. Prior to this he received a BAFTA nomination in 2006 for the Rising Star Award, which honours young actors who have demonstrated exceptional talent and ambition.
This year, Chiwetel Ejiofor will voice the infamous character of ‘Scar’ in Disney’s The Lion King, and will also appear in Maleficent 2, the sequel to the 2014 film Maleficent. March 2019 will see Ejiofor’s directorial debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. He will also star in this adaptation of the book by the same name written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
Public tickets for ‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures: Chiwetel Ejiofor’ will be available to book from 12:30pm on Friday 01 February at www.bafta.org/whats-on/.
Event and venue details:
BAFTA A Life in Pictures: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Saturday 23 February at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, London, 19:30-21:00
Recordings of previous events in the A Life in Pictures series are available on BAFTA Guru, BAFTA’s online learning channel (www.bafta.org/guru).
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For further information, images or to request press tickets, please contact:
Sophie Dudhill / Press Officer
T 020 7292 5863
E [email protected]
About BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia – BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For advice and inspiration from the best creative minds in working in film, games and television, visit www.bafta.org/guru. For more, visit www.bafta.org.
