Top 50 Chiwetel Ejiofor Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “All roads lead home in the end. You’ve got to keep that in mind always – in your work and in your life.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

2. “I wanted to be an actor ever since I got on stage for the first time, aged 13. Before that, I thought I might follow in the medical footsteps of my parents: my father was a doctor, my mother a pharmacist.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

3. “My father, Arinze Ejiofor, was a musician and a doctor. Nobody’s ever asked me about that combination and what growing up in that environment was like.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

4. “I think fear is a very healthy motivator.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

5. “I have always been very fortunate in my working life in terms of the, I say that like I’ve not been fortunate at all in my private life.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

6. “When I first had my eyebrows waxed, I was pretty disturbed.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

7. “I was the classic middle child in some ways, the one who could have been a priest in an alternate universe.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

8. “Dividing everybody into genders and sexuality and races and religions, and I think its important to have films out there, to have discussions out there which really try to get to grips with where that kind of thing can lead.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

9. “There’s always something ridiculous happening on the set, especially when people get tired because of the long days.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

10. “David Mamet was great to work with. He was everything that I thought he would be as a director. He’s incredibly articulate, an easy collaborator. Extraordinarily knowledgeable about film and writing.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

11. “A lot of people ask me about my father’s passing when I was young, which I’m never comfortable with. I invariably move around that subject.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

12. “In England, theres no acknowledgement the invention of slavery came from Britain.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

13. “That global poverty would end. That people would be able to eat. It’s the worst shame in the world that people go hungry.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

14. “I would love to be a fly on the wall watching other directors and actors to see what their process is like.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

15. “I enjoy doing everything, comedy and drama. I just look for the characters really and what they offer.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

16. “Solomon Northup is one of the most remarkable people Ive ever encountered in my life; one of the most amazing stories I have ever been in any kind of contact with. To not tell that story would have been disgraceful, in my opinion.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

17. “Steve MCQueen created an entire family to tell one man’s tale and I am delighted that so many of this family have also been recognised today. I am hugely grateful to the Academy for this great honour, and, of course, to Solomon Northup for sharing his story through his breathtaking book.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

18. “Ridley creates a very immersive world, so when you walk up to a Ridley Scott film set you’re in Ridley Scott’s imagination, and it’s a really comfortable, cool place to be.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

19. “I think the crucial thing about being an actor is to be doing it.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

20. “I’m in favor of anything that promotes greener solutions.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

21. “I think I enjoy working obviously as a lead, but also you know I feel I’m also a character actor as well, so I enjoy approaching various projects in all sort of capacities. Any film I have been able to do I feel very fortunate to have been a part of.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

22. “I believe people instinctively know that about writing, yet people get confused about that when it comes to acting.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

23. “I don’t ever feel like I’ve had a moment where I am like, “There it is; perfect and holy in all ways.””

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

24. “When I worked with Woody Allen, I only got the parts of the script that I was in. I was able to piece together the narrative from that, but I remember being quite excited to watch the movie – the movie that I was in but didn’t know what happened in, like, 65 percent of.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

25. “It’s a strange thing, but you get this click in your brain; the wonderful feeling that the entirety of a character is suddenly available and accessible to you.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

26. “Ive always liked the idea of being a father. And Ive always romanticised it, because I lost my father when I was young. In a way, all of the complications that come with my career are about that.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

27. “My music tastes are often 20 years behind.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

28. “Id never really considered film. If Id thought about film more growing up, I probably would have changed my name. I had no concept of my name in lights.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

29. “My favorite thing to cook is anything that comes out okay. I’m very fond of certain pastas and sauces that I can just about cook from scratch. So those are what I like to cook, as well as roasted potatoes and chicken. Anything that tastes alright.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

30. “Working in this industry, I do feel that science and creativity turned out to be a very useful combination for me.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

31. “I think Africa will have a crisper impact on Europe, as it has traditionally, and then that will filter into the American cultural psyche, in the way that India has.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

32. “I’m constantly looking to see whether I look the same as I did earlier, whether I’ve put on or lost any weight.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

33. “I’ve often had the fortune to work on projects with a small theme I find very interesting enough to pursue and to be passionate about in the context of the story, then it may turn out there’s a universality about my character which still resonates with many people as well.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

34. “This is going to sound completely absurd, but I do sometimes feel like the enjoyment of an awards ceremony or the pride in the finished article hasn’t ever surpassed the joy of doing the work, of making it. The doing it is really the bit I’m there for.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

35. “Ive just tried to keep my eyes open, tried to read everything you can, and tried to see whether I see myself within it. If I do, then I can get excited about it.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

36. “I started working as an actor, semi-professionally, when I was 16, and got my first professional gig at 19. I guess I’ve kind of worked pretty consistently since then.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

37. “I like to disappear into a role. I equate the success of it with a feeling of being chemically changed. That’s the only way I can express it.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

38. “Reporters tend to launch on what seems to be the clearest, most stark aspects of someone’s life in terms of an interview.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

39. “I wouldnt be the same actor if I couldnt do theater.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

40. “I started off doing plays as a theater actor. But I never thought of it in terms of it leading anywhere. I was just trying to be the best actor that I could be in the context of what I was doing.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

41. “I fell in love with film. I didn’t start out to be a film actor. I wanted to be a theater actor.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

42. “I do like sci-fi. When I was a kid, I was always sort of locked into sci-fi stories. So, sci-fi has always had a special place in my heart.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

43. “I’ve always enjoyed doing a huge variety of roles, which I think helps, instead of settling for the things I might be most comfortable with.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

44. “The only way to be an actor is to find ways to work as an actor, even if that means doing a one-man show by a river.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

45. “I’m constantly discovering things. Like Bobby Bland. Right now I suppose I’m into the Eighties, which turned out to be a great musical period.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

46. “I was always lucky that I’ve always had a gig, I’m fortunate in that way.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

47. “The thing about film is it is a very precise form. You know if you have it and you know if you don’t have it. There’s not really a middle bit where you’re like, “I think we kind of have that scene.””

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

48. “Depending on what your interest in theater is, I always recommend working on plays. It’s a great way to be introduced to the field, and also a great way to be seen by agents and representation. I’m also a great advocate for studying acting at a drama school or a college.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

49. “I feel that audiences are very sophisticated, and part of my challenge is to keep them engaged because they are so complex.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor

50. “I became an actor by doing school plays and youth theaters, and then National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. And then I did study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. For me that was a good way to enter the field, to work in the theater.”

— Chiwetel Ejiofor