David Oyelowo
| David Oyelowo | |
|---|---|
Oyelowo at the US Embassy in Berlin, February 2015
|
|
| Born | David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo 1 April 1976 Oxford, England, U.K |
| Occupation | Actor, producer, director, writer |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Spouse(s) | Jessica Oyelowo (m. 1998) |
| Children | 4 |
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo, OBE (/oʊˈjɛloʊwoʊ/ ə-YEL-ə-woh; born April 1, 1976)[1] is an English[2][3] actor, producer, director, and writer. He has played supporting roles in the films Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Middle of Nowhere (2012), Lincoln (2012), and garnered praise for portraying Louis Gaines in The Butler (2013). On television, he played MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British series Spooks (2002–04), and as of 2014[update], provides the voice of Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus on the animated series Star Wars Rebels.[4] In 2014, Oyelowo played Martin Luther King, Jr. in the biographical drama film Selma, for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor (Drama).[5] Also in 2014, he starred in the HBO movie Nightingale, for which he won a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie and received a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries and TV movie.
Contents
Early life
Oyelowo was born in Oxford, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba ethnicity.[6] His mother worked for British Rail, and his father, Stephen, worked for British Airways.[7][8] He studied theatre studies at City and Islington College, where his teacher suggested that he become an actor. Oyelowo enrolled for a year in an art foundation course, at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).[8] He finished his three-year training in 1998.[9] He also spent time with the National Youth Theatre.[10]
Career
Stage
He began his stage career in 1999 when he was offered a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing roles in Ben Jonson's Volpone, as the title character in Oroonoko (which he also performed in the BBC radio adaptation) and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1999) alongside Guy Henry, Frances de la Tour and Alan Bates. He is however best known for his next stage performance as King Henry VI in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2001 productions of Shakespeare's trilogy of plays about the king as a part of its season This England: The Histories. In a major landmark for colour-blind casting, Oyelowo was the first black actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare, and although this casting choice was initially criticised by some in the media, Oyelowo's performance was critically acclaimed and later won the 2001 Ian Charleson Award for best performance by an actor under 30 in a classical play.
In 2005, he appeared in a production of Prometheus Bound, which was revived in New York in 2007. In 2006, he made his directorial debut on a production of The White Devil, produced by his own theatre company in Brighton, Inservice, co-run with fellow Brighton-based actors Priyanga Burford, Israel Aduramo, Penelope Cobbuld, and his wife, Jessica.[11]
Television
Oyelowo is best known for playing MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British TV drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI-5) from 2002 to 2004. He had before that appeared in Tomorrow La Scala (2002), Maisie Raine (1998) and Brothers and Sisters (1998). Soon after the end of his time on Spooks Oyelowo made a cameo appearance in the 2005 Christmas special of As Time Goes By. In 2006 he appeared in the TV film Born Equal alongside Nikki Amuka-Bird as a couple fleeing persecution in Nigeria – they also both appeared in Shoot the Messenger (2006), and in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) as a husband and wife. Other cameos have included Mayo (guest-starring on 30 April 2006) and the TV film Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008, as defence attorney Leonard Grisham), while he has played recurring or main characters in Five Days (2007) and The Passion (2008, as Joseph of Arimathea).
In December 2009 he played the leading role of Gilbert in the BBC TV adaptation of Andrea Levy's novel Small Island.[12] In March 2010 he played the part of Keme Tobodo in the BBC's drama series Blood and Oil. [13]
Radio
He appeared as Olaudah Equiano in Grace Unshackled – The Olaudah Equiano Story, a radio play adapting Equiano's autobiography. This was first broadcast on BBC 7 on Easter Sunday, 8 April 2007, with Jessica Oyelowo as Mrs Equiano.[14]
Audiobook
In 2007, Oyelowo was the reader for John le Carré's The Mission Song. AudioFile magazine stated: "Think of David Oyelowo as a single musician playing all the instruments in a symphony. That is essentially what he manages in this inspired performance of John le Carré's suspense novel.... Can it really have been only one man in the narrator's recording booth? This virtuoso performance makes that seem impossible."[15] In 2015, he was selected to portray James Bond in Trigger Mortis, written by Anthony Horowitz.[16]
Film
In 2012, Oyelowo appeared in Middle of Nowhere. Writer-director Ava DuVernay had been a fan of his work and had considered asking him to take the role, however before she could Oyelowo received the script coincidentally from a friend of DuVernay's who happened to be sitting next to him on the plane and was considering investing in the project.[17] The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival to critical raves. That same year Oyelowo appeared in Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[18]
Oyelowo reunited with Daniels the following year in The Butler.
In 2014, he reunited with his Middle of Nowhere director Ava DuVernay for Selma, playing civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. The film, based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, had originally been set to be directed by Lee Daniels, but the project was dropped by Daniels so he could focus on The Butler.
Oyelowo is also slated to star with Lupita Nyong'o in Americanah, a film to be adapted from the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel. The story follows a pair of young Nigerian immigrants who face a lifetime of struggle while their relationship endures.[19]
Personal life
He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo,[6] with whom he has four children.[20] They live in Los Angeles.[20]
A devout Christian, Oyelowo has stated that he believes God called him to play Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Reflecting on his portrayal of King in the film Selma, Oyelowo has asserted that "I always knew that in order to play Dr. King, I had to have God flow through me because when you see Dr. King giving those speeches, you see that he is moving in his anointing."[21]
Oyelowo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama.[22]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Maisie Raine | Sonny McDonald | Episode: "Food of Love" |
| Brothers and Sisters | Lester Peters | ||
| 2002–2004 | Spooks | Danny Hunter | |
| 2005 | As Time Goes By | Patrick | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | Shoot the Messenger | Joseph Pascale | TV movie |
| The Gil Mayo Mysteries | Eddie Barton, 'Sexy' M.P. | Episode: "Episode #1.8" | |
| 2007 | Five Days | Matt Wellings | 4 episodes |
| 2008 | A Raisin in the Sun | Joseph Asagai | TV movie |
| The Passion | Joseph of Arimathea | TV miniseries (1 episode) | |
| The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency | Kremlin Busang | Episode: "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" | |
| 2009 | Small Island | Gilbert | TV movie |
| 2010 | Blood and Oil | Keme Tobodo | TV movie |
| 2011 | The Good Wife | Judge Edward Weldon | Episode: "Two Courts" |
| 2010–2011 | Glenn Martin, DDS | Teacher/Clarence (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | Complicit | Edward Ekubo | TV movie |
| 2014–present | Star Wars Rebels | Agent Kallus (voice) | [4][24] |
| 2014 | Robot Chicken | Sebastian (voice) | 1 episode |
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/11/david-oyelowo-martin-luther-king-jr-selma
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/31107292/oyelowo-british-tv-ignoring-black-actors
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Naomi West, "As he likes it", The Daily Telegraph, 8 September 2007.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ BBC – Press Office – Network Radio Programme Information Week 15 Easter Sunday 15 April 2007[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1][dead link]
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 61450. p. N14. 30 December 2015.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- David Oyelowo at the Internet Movie Database
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Articles with dead external links from November 2012
- Articles with dead external links from August 2015
- Use dmy dates from October 2014
- Articles with hCards
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- 1976 births
- Living people
- English male film actors
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English people of Yoruba descent
- English male radio actors
- English male stage actors
- English male television actors
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Alumni of City and Islington College
- Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
- Audio book narrators
- Black English male actors
- British expatriate male actors in the United States
- People from Oxford
- Royal Shakespeare Company members
- Yoruba male actors
- Male Shakespearean actors
- 20th-century English male actors
- 21st-century English male actors
- Ian Charleson Award winners
- English Christians
- National Youth Theatre members
- James Bond
