Chiwetel Ejiofor always aspired to be a versatile actor like Hollywood legend Cary Grant.
Chiwetel Ejiofor likes to put on a lot of 'different hats' and explore various genres
The 47-year-old actor loves how the late actor - whose movie credits included romantic comedies such as 'The Awful Truth' (1937), 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938) and 'His Girl Friday' (1940) and Alfred Hitchcock classics 'Suspicion' (1941), 'Notorious' (1946), 'To Catch a Thief' (1955), and 'North by Northwest' (1959) - could "slip into different genres" easily and has tried to emulate that in the variety of roles he's had over the years.
He told Variety: "Even before I thought I wanted to be an actor, I always loved Cary Grant. I remember seeing him in Holiday with Katherine Hepburn when I was very young, under 10 years old, and thinking 'Oh, they’re doing something called acting.'
But he was an actor who I always thought could slip into different genres in this very easy way. You’d buy him in comedies and romantic comedies and then intense thrillers. You couldn’t categorize him. So for me, when I started working on stage, the idea of just putting on lots of different hats, sometimes in the same show, was always an integral part of what acting was to me. So, yeah, it’s been great. I’ve been very gratified to find that in my professional life I’ve been able to do something similar to that in different genres and different styles of films, and it’s definitely something that I would hope to take into writing and into directing."
Chiwetel's roles include 'Love Actually', 'Kinky Boots', '12 Years a Slave', 'The Martian' and Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' films.
He's next set to star in the new 'Venom' film and 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'.
He said of joining the latter franchise: "In a way, with Love Actually I feel like that sort of broader Working Title universe is something I’ve always kind of been a part of. It was fun to join it at a slightly different angle. There’s such a warmth to those films. They’re funny and engaging and beautifully acted and so well made. So on that basis, there’s just such an extraordinary framework to move into. They have the sort of warmth of their humanity as well as engaging in the sort of the politics in the world of the modern day, and having something to say about the world we live in. But it’s always with a sense of optimism, hopefulness and sometimes actually just the very best of our possibilities. And I love that."
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