David Oyelowo’s name is the talk of the town after Selma premièred at AFI Fest this week. Oyelowo is winning rave reviews for his performance. He also appeared in J C Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, which opened the festival.
His face was already familiar. Last year, he had a pivotal role in The Butler. Here’s everything you need to know about the man who is tipped to earn an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in the film.
- Oyelowo hails from the UK and started his acting career on stage, playing Henry VI. He was the first black actor to portray a Shakespearian King for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- His character in The Butler ages over several decades, Oyelowo employed several aspects to show the aging process, ” I would sleep for 10 hours the night before I had to play a teenager and I’d sleep four or five hours when I had to play older. I’d go to the gym to shed weight very quickly to play the younger character and I’d eat a lot of salty food and drink a lot of water that bloats me out to play the older character. “
- Oyelowo starred in the British TV show, Spooks from 2012-2014, it was known in America as MI-5. Chewitel Ejifor was a classmate at drama school.
- He has starred in over 20 films including, The Paperboy, Jack Reacher, Lincoln, The Help and Rise of The Planet of The Apes.
- Oyelowo makes an appearance in Interstellar as a school principal.
- He filmed Spielberg’s Lincoln and Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise at the same time, and had to face inevitable shooting conflicts. Oyelowo says, “Nobody had told Tom. I was in Richmond, Virginia, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Spielberg having the time of my life and I start getting these calls saying, ‘Tom’s really excited about this car chase tonight’ and I was, ‘What are you talking about? I’m here’ – and I’m not going to be the one to tell Spielberg I’m leaving. Goodness knows what happened behind the scenes but I was on a jet that took me to Pittsburgh and I walked straight into that car chase.”
- On working with fellow Brit Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, “He is in character all the time. You have to call him ‘Mr President’ or ‘Mr Lincoln’ if you’re going to address him. He was the acting equivalent of a time machine for me – just being around him you sank right into 1865.”
- Oyelowo on reactions from casting agents when they hear his British accent, “I’m never apprehensive [about being a British actor playing an American]. I live in Los Angeles now, and that’s a choice I made to try and work in the industry there. They are still confounded by a black man who talks like the Queen!”
- Why he moved to Los Angeles, “The film industry here [in the UK] is so small, and I aspire to do movies so I had to take my plant and put it in more fertile ground. [Black actors] can’t really do period dramas that have cross-over appeal that we are known to export. I don’t think I would have got to play a fighter pilot if I stayed here.”
- Selma won’t be the first time he’s worked with Oprah, he played her son in The Butler, watch this video of him talking about his mother’s reaction to Oprah playing his mother:
Oyelowo is about to make a splash in Hollywood, watch out. Read Sasha’s review of Selma here.
Selma opens on December 25.
