Early life

Oyelowo was born in Oxford, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba ethnicity. His mother worked for British Rail, and his father, Stephen, worked for British Airways. He studied theatre studies at City and Islington College, where 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. He also spent time with the National Youth Theatre.

Career

Stage

He began his 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. He is however 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 in 2007. In 2006, he made his directorial debut on a production of The White Devil, produced by his own theatre company in Brighton, Inservice, co-run with fellow Brighton-based actors Priyanga Burford, Israel Aduramo, Penelope Cobbuld, and his wife, Jessica.

Television

Oyelowo is best known for playing MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British TV 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 2005 Christmas special of As Time Goes By. In 2006 he appeared in the TV 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 TV film Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008, as defence attorney Leonard Grisham), while he has played recurring or main characters in 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 part of Keme Tobodo in the BBC's drama series Blood and Oil.

Radio

He appeared as Olaudah Equiano in Grace Unshackled - The Olaudah Equiano Story, a radio play adapting Equiano's autobiography. This was first broadcast on BBC 7 on Easter Sunday, 8 April 2007, with Jessica Oyelowo as Mrs Equiano.

Audiobook

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.

Film

In 2012, Oyelowo appeared in Middle of Nowhere. 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 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 also stars in Five Nights in Maine, which was directed by Maris Curran.

Oyelowo reunited with Daniels the following year in The Butler.

In 2014, he reunited with his Middle of Nowhere director Ava DuVernay for Selma, 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.

Oyelowo is also 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.

Personal life

He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo, with whom he has four children. They live in Los Angeles.

A devout Christian, Oyelowo has 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 asserted that "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."

Oyelowo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Dog Eat Dog	CJ
2005	A Sound of Thunder	Payne
	The Best Man	Graham
	Derailed	Patrol Officer
2006	As You Like It	Orlando De Boys
	The Last King of Scotland	Dr. Junju
2008	Who Do You Love?	Muddy Waters
	A Raisin in the Sun	Joseph Asagai
2009	Rage	Homer
2011	Rise of the Planet of the Apes	Steven Jacobs
	The Help	Preacher Green
	96 Minutes	Duane
2012	Red Tails	1st Lt. Joe “Lightning” Little
	The Paperboy	Yardley Acheman
	Middle of Nowhere	Brian	Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
	Lincoln	Ira Clark
	Jack Reacher	Emerson
2013	The Butler	Louis Gaines	NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2014	Interstellar	School Principal
	Default	Atlas
	Selma	Martin Luther King, Jr.	Black Reel Award for Best Actor African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Kermode Award for Best Actor NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Palm Springs International Film Festival Breakthrough Performance Award Nominated - Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Village Voice Film Poll Award for Best Actor Nominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
	A Most Violent Year	Lawrence	Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
2015	Captive	Brian Nichols
	Five Nights in Maine	Sherwin
2016	Nina	Clifton Henderson
	Queen of Katwe	Robert Katende	Completed
	A United Kingdom	Seretse Khama	Post-production
2017	American Express		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Maisie Raine	Sonny McDonald	Episode: “Food of Love”
	Brothers and Sisters	Lester Peters
2002-2004	Spooks	Danny Hunter
2005	As Time Goes By	Patrick	2 episodes
2006	Shoot the Messenger	Joseph Pascale	TV movie
	The Gil Mayo Mysteries	Eddie Barton, “Sexy” M.P.	Episode: “Episode #1.8”
2007	Five Days	Matt Wellings	4 episodes
2008	A Raisin in the Sun	Joseph Asagai	TV movie
	The Passion	Joseph of Arimathea	TV miniseries (1 episode)
	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency	Kremlin Busang	Episode: “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency”
2009	Small Island	Gilbert	TV movie
2010	Blood and Oil	Keme Tobodo	TV movie
2011	The Good Wife	Judge Edward Weldon	Episode: “Two Courts”
2010-2011	Glenn Martin, DDS	Teacher / Clarence (voice)	2 episodes
2013	Complicit	Edward Ekubo	TV movie
2014-present	Star Wars Rebels	Agent Kallus (voice)
2014	Robot Chicken	Sebastian (voice)	1 episode
2014	Nightingale	Peter Snowden	TV movie Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Limited Series Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Pending - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]