Chiwetel Ejiofor has amassed impressive movie resume

Chiwetel Ejiofor is routinely called Britain's first black movie star, but the qualifier is really a footnote to his achievements. Since his film debut in Steven Spielberg's 1997 slavery epic "Amistad," he has amassed the kind of résumé that transcends racial polarities.

Sought out by such directors as Stephen Frears ("Dirty Pretty Things"), Woody Allen ("Melinda and Melinda"), John Singleton ("Four Brothers"), Joss Whedon ("Serenity"), Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men") and now David Mamet ("Redbelt"), Ejiofor is the kind of performer who seems incapable of a false or lazy performance -- no matter if he's cast as a hero, a villain or a flamboyant transvestite ("Kinky Boots").

Born in London to Nigerian parents, he began acting at 13, in school plays and the National Youth Theatre. On a recent visit to Minneapolis to promote Mamet's martial-arts drama, he explained that the first appeal of performing was the poetry of the speeches.

"I got involved in literature initially, and then it was the plays themselves," he said. As an introvert who came alive onstage, he found that "the plays allowed these moments of self-expression that were great and freeing and releasing. I found it moving and profound." Within two years he was hooked.

His father, a doctor, and his mother, a pharmacist, never questioned his young acting career because "it advanced bit by bit so nobody noticed what had happened until it was too late. There was never the decision to be an actor. It just ended up rolling into that. I still haven't made the decision," he said with a laugh.

Six years after first stepping onstage, he found himself in Hollywood working with Spielberg. "I was in DreamWorks having lunch with Steven and I was amazed that he could sit and have a conversation like anyone else," he recalled. "Somehow in my youthful head I thought that he had some sort of alternate reality."

Ejiofor, who has alternated between larger roles and supporting parts, said he does "what used to be described as character acting. Today the line between character acting and leading man acting is blurry. They used to be very distinctly two camps, but more and more people are casting character actors as leading men."

In "Redbelt," he stars as the owner of a rundown Los Angeles jiu-jitsu school who is forced into the competitive arena against his will. It might sound like a generic action movie role, except that it was written and directed by Mamet, known for his tough, unconventional dramas. The instructor falls in among manipulative Hollywood predators who do their worst to chip away at his moral foundation.

"I think it's always fun to take a look at a certain genre or expectation and mine it for something else," Ejiofor said. "That's what he's done in this film, and I think that's exciting.

"In a strange way, reading it was a sort of formality. I'd have done anything David Mamet offered," he said. "I hadn't read anything like it before. I've very rarely read scripts where I could stop at any point and genuinely say, 'I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next. This is all brand-new to me.' Truly from the first page to the last I just didn't know. All bets are off. David does things that are completely satisfying but unexpected, yet in retrospect completely necessary. Not tricksy or cop-out, just absolutely honest."

Ejiofor recently concluded a well-regarded London run as Othello. "The last performance of 'Othello' is really sort of tragic for the actor, because you're letting those beautiful words disappear," he said.

Ejiofor's only complaint about his chosen profession is that being an actor is all-consuming. Asked about his hobbies, he offers a sheepish grin.

"When people ask me this question about my other interests, I always get a little embarrassed in a way because I suddenly realize that so many of the things that I do are connected to the profession.

"But that's the way it is, I think, so I end up seeing a lot of films and reading a lot about areas that I'm interested in exploring in terms of film. I end up seeing theater because it's the entertainment industry, and you're drawn to it in your spare time. I don't take people's accounts and try to figure them out as a way of unwinding from the entertainment industry."

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186