These leading men, who have starring roles in Hollywood films and UK and US television shows were raised in England and are children of immigrants from Africa:
Idris Elba - Film & TV Star
Though he's best known as Baltimore drug dealer Stringer Bell in the famed American crime drama The Wire and appeared in American Gangster (2007) with Denzel Washington, actor Idris Elba's background is miles away from his Hollywood film career.
Born Idrissa Akuna Elba in the impoverished East London borough of Hackney in 1972, Elba's mother is from Ghana and his father came to England from Sierra Leone in the 60s on a marketing scholarship.
Elba's Childhood Memories
As an only child, Elba has fond memories of his childhood "I grew up on a lot of African music, Senegalese and Congolese music. And then my dad bought a lot of the Marvin Gaye classics and at Christmas time music was on all day and all night."
Elba eventually worked as a nightclub DJ before becoming an actor; his parents had managed to keep him "on the straight and narrow" despite growing up in a rough part of London "Africans," he said "we hold on to our youths and whip them into shape."
But his acting ambitions didn't go down too well: "They couldn't see any money in it. My dad wanted me to be a footballer even though he didn't think English kids like me were as good as African footballers.
When I passed the audition to get into the National Youth Music Theatre, my mother said: 'You can't go. We haven't got the money.'" He applied for a grant from the Prince's Trust, the charity set up by Prince Charles to help young people. "Without that £1,500, I don't know what I'd have become. It got me into drama school."
He worked odd jobs in between television work until frustrated with lack of acting roles, he moved to America at 22 and got his big break in The Wire.
African Influence in Acting
His African roots helped him secure his next film role as a Rwandan army captain who lives through his country's genocide in Sometimes in April (2005): "[the Director] was like, "He's not right. He's an American." Then someone told him, "No, he's English and his parents are of African descent so you should look at him". The rest is history."
His parents were proud when the role took him to Africa for the first time. "My mum and dad weren't aware of what happened in Rwanda at the time in depth and were pleased that I was going to Africa to make a film about it."
Elba now lives in New York and has a seven-year-old daughter living in Atlanta with his ex-wife. He's starred in Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls (2007) and opposite Beyonce Knowles in Obsessed (2008).
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Stage & Film Actor
Primarily an accomplished theatre actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor ( (chew-ih-tell edge-ee-o-for) has also appeared in a number of Hollywood features like Four Brothers in 2005, but is best known for his haunting turn in Dirty Pretty Things (2002), a role which drew deeply from his background.
Ejiofor was born in London in 1974, the second of four children to Nigerian parents Arinze, a doctor and one time popstar and Obiajulu a pharmacist. They both belonged to the Ibo tribe of Nigeria and had to flee the country in the 60s during the Biafran civil war which targetted their people, and sought refuge in England where their children were born.
His mother remembers Ejiofor (whose name means 'God Brings' in Ibo) as a "sweet child who did what he was told, was independent and very artistic." Ejiofor says "I was the classic middle child in some ways, the one who could have been a priest in an alternate universe. Being in the middle was kind of safe; my elder brother, Obinze looked after me so I felt free to go my own way."
Tragedy Hits Ejiofor
A car crash during a visit to Nigeria when he was 11 would disrupt his childhood. "My dad was in the car with three other people who I didn't know. I can remember the car coming round the corner and knowing something bad was going to happen. My father was killed, and so was the guy in the passenger seat and the guy who was driving. There was a man who survived who was sitting next to me"
"I broke my arm and was in hospital for 10 weeks." Ejiofor also suffered a head injury that left a noticeable scar on his forehead.
Devasted, Ejiofor nevertheless returned to school in England and soon fell in love with the theatre. His stage credits include the lead in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and as Othello for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.
Dirty Pretty Things
Ejiofor's first lead role in a movie was as Okwe, a Nigerian illegal immigrant living in London in Dirty Pretty Things also starring Audrey Tautou and Sophie Okonedo (who also has a Nigerian background, see Hollywood Actresses with African Parents). Ejiofor based the principled, conflicted Okwe on his late father.
"I wanted to look a little like my dad. I just related to him through the script very, very strongly. My father was very pragmatic; that was his nature and that was Okwe's nature. And my father was a doctor like Okwe, and they'd gone through similar situations." Ejiofor's mother was reportedly startled by the similarities.
The role ganeered Ejiofor praise and more work in films like Children of Men (2006) and American Gangster (2007). He splits his time between London and America and visits Nigeria every year, saying "I feel very lucky to be part of two cultures."
Sources:
- Idris Elba: "The Midas Touch", The Guardian, May 5, 2009
- Chiwetel Ejiofor: "The Rainbow's End", The Guardian, July 10, 2004
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