TRENDING IN AMERICA:
NIGERIAN-British Actor, DAVID OYELOWO Headlines HOLLYWOOD’S Most Famous Latest Blockbuster Movie ‘GRINGO’…Set for Release worldwide March 9, 2018 in USA, Becomes First Black Actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare
* Drama/Action trailer reveals mild-mannered American businessman traveling to Mexico, crosses line from citizen to criminal relating with shady colleagues, international mercenaries, drug lords and Drug Enforcement Administration
* I hour 50 minutes movie Celebrates professionalism of Nigerian Actor
* Oyelowo in dramatic move screams in Yoruba language ‘Oluwa, Olorun Eledunmare’, translating ‘Lord, God Almighty’
*Movie enjoying great reviews on Cables News Network, BBC, Sky News, New York Times, Daily Mirror Online, TIME Magazine
* Oyelowo’s name in America’s Hall of FAME as he earlier played ‘Martin Luther King Jr.’ role in the American biographical drama film ‘Selma’
* Acted MI5 officer Danny Hunter on the British drama series Spooks (known in North America) from 2002 to 2004
*Formed Yoruba Saxon Productions company that co-produced movies which featured him including: Nightingale, Captive, Five Nights in Maine, and A United Kingdom
*Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama by Queen Elizabeth of England
* AWARDS: Received Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actor, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, Got first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
HE’S A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR, FAMOUS MOVIE PRODUCER, born in Oxford, United Kingdom to Nigerian parents-so proud of his Nigerian heritage. His looks, accent are pure reflection of an average Nigerian anywhere in Africa’s most populous black nation in the world. DAVID OYELOWO is a graduate of theatre studies at City and Islington College, after a foundation course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His role in ‘Gringo’, an hour 50 minutes drama/action thriller showed this as most trending film in Hollywood set for release on March 9, 2018 worldwide in United States of America.
‘Gringo’ is a movie about a mild-mannered American businessman who finds himself in trouble after traveling to Mexico. He soon crosses the line from citizen to criminal while tangling with shady colleagues, international mercenaries, drug lords and the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA.
This much-talked about movie directed by Nash Edgerton, had producers like: Charlize Theron, Nash Edgerton, Anthony Tambakis, Beth Kono, Rebecca Yeldham, A.J. Dix under the following production companies of Amazon Studios, Denver and Delilah Productions as distributed by Amazon Studios and STX Entertainment. The Cast in Gringo movie had popular actors in persons of Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, David Oyelowo, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley and Yul Vazquez.
Oyelowo demonstrates his professionalism in the thriller movie as he screamed in one of the scenes in Yoruba language: ‘Oluwa, Olorun, Eledunmare,’ which translates in Nigeria as ‘Lord, God Almighty’, reflecting his rich cultural roots in Africa.
This Nigerian hit America’s national limelight when he acted the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the American biographical drama film titled ‘Selma’ in 2014. He took the lead role in a movie titled ‘A United Kingdom’ in 2016 as well as playing the role of a chess coach in Queen of Katwe same year. He has played supporting roles in the films ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ in 2011, ‘Middle of Nowhere’ in 2012, Lincoln same year and garnered praise for portraying Louis Gaines in ‘The Butler’ in 2013. On television, he played MI5 officer Danny Hunter on the British drama series Spooks in 2002–04.
The hardworking, creative and godly actor born 1st April 1976 had Nigerian parents of Yoruba ethnicity. He was brought up as a Baptist, grew up in Tooting Bec until he was six, when his family moved to Lagos, Nigeria, where his father Stephen worked for the national airline and mother for a railway company. David attended a ‘military-style’ boarding school’. Their family returned to London when Oyelowo was fourteen, settling in Islington.
While enrolled in theatre studies at City and Islington College, 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). He finished his three-year training in 1998, spent time with the National Youth Theatre.
Career Stage:
Oyelowo began his acting 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.
Oyelowo is 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 City in 2007. In 2006, he made his directorial debut on a production of ‘The White Devil’, produced by Inservice, his theatre company in Brighton which is co-run with fellow Brighton-based actors Priyanga Burford, Israel Aduramo, Penelope Cobbuld, and his wife, Jessica, played the title role in ‘Othello’ in 2016 at the New York Theatre Workshop with Daniel Craig as Iago, directed by Sam Gold.
On Television, Oyelowo is best known for playing MI5 officer Danny Hunter on the British 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 Christmas special of As Time Goes By (2005). In 2006, he appeared in the television 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 television film Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008, as defence attorney Leonard Grisham), while he has played recurring or main characters on 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. In March 2010, he played the role of Keme Tobodo in the BBC’s drama series Blood and Oil. He starred in the HBO original film Nightingale (2014).
Oyewole featured prominently in voice acting as he appeared as ‘Olaudah Equiano’ in Grace Unshackled – The Olaudah Equiano Story, a radio play adapting Equiano’s autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This was first broadcast on BBC 7 on 8 April 2007, with his wife Jessica Oyelowo as Mrs. Equiano.
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.” In 2015, he was selected to portray James Bond in Trigger Mortis, written by Anthony Horowitz.
As of 2014, he provides the voice of Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus on the animated series Star Wars Rebels. As of 2017, Oyelowo voices the spirit of Scar, the main antagonist in season 2 of The Lion Guard.
Film:
In 2012, Oyelowo appeared in ‘Middle of Nowhere’. Meanwhile, 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 a friend of DuVernay’s who happened to be sitting next to him on the plane and was considering investing in the project. 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. Oyelowo reunited with Daniels the following year in ‘The Butler’.
In 2014, Oyelowo formed his own independent production company, Yoruba Saxon Productions which has co-produced movies that featured him including, Nightingale, Captive, Five Nights in Maine, and most recently, A United Kingdom.
He worked with his ‘Middle of Nowhere’ director Ava DuVernay again for Selma (2014), 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’.
He is 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.
Awards and honors:
For his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Oyelowo received in 2014 the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actor and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Also in 2014, for his performance in Nightingale, he won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special and a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Oyelowo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama.
This Nigerian-British, living in Los Angeles, California, United States is happily married to actress Jessica Oyelowo with whom he has four children. They live in Los Angeles, California. A devout Christian, Oyelowo reportedly 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 assert: “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.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZerpT-5T0
