VIDEO: Chiwetel's beautiful sisters!!

Chiwetel’s mom is truly an incredible woman in her own right. This article touches on the her own parents struggles during the Biafran war, the move to London, becoming widowed (while pregnant with Chiwetel’s youngest sister), and raising the other three… truly incredible…

She raised four incredibly talented kids. The youngest daughter is a doctor I believe, Zain, a CNN reporter, and Chiwetel, an incredible (Oscar nominated) actor.

Here’s a link to the entire article… the bit about Chiwetel’s family in particular is pasted below.

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http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/arts-ents/film/golden-globe-winner-chiwetel-ejiofor-on-12-years-a-slave.1389633621?_=1b50c1593f4a82b8e0a2df8c453b4423537cf36f

The shorthand version of Ejiofor's story goes like this: He was born in 1977 in London's East End, the son of Nigerian parents. He was educated at Dulwich College where he joined the drama department, which led to a place at the National Youth Theatre when he was 17, and then a scholarship to London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Aged 19, and only three months into his course, he was chosen by Steven Spielberg to play a small part in the slavery epic Amistad and that was his course set. An actor's life for him. One that now sees him divide his time between London and Los Angeles.

The longhand version - the version that places it within his family's larger story - is possibly more interesting and certainly at times much more harrowing.
Ejiofor's parents had moved to London in the seventies after a spell in Paris. They were both members of the Igbo community. It's worth noting that most slaves in Jamaica, the West Indies and Virginia after 1750 were Igbo. His father Arinze was a musician as well as a doctor, so performance was part of the family narrative. Father and son were in Nigeria when Arinze was killed in the car crash that also injured Ejiofor who spent 10 weeks in hospital.

His father's death is inevitably something the son's interviewers are drawn to, but I'm interested in his mother Obiajulu, a pharmacist. It's difficult to imagine what she went through; a young widow bringing up a young family. "She had three kids and was pregnant with my youngest sister so it was a complicated time for her. But the thing about my mother is she is an extremely resourceful person, which she demonstrated from when she was young."

Obiajulu and her parents (Arinze too for that matter) lived through the Biafran War in the sixties. Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and adopted the borders of the old British colony. A coup in the mid-sixties led to riots and massacres. In the north the Igbo community was soon being targeted. "The war created this extraordinary situation where my grandparents were very middle class. My grandfather was an accountant for the mining corporation in the north of Nigeria where the pogroms started against the Igbos. He was forced quickly to move back to the east. The family tried to rebuild their middle-class existence and that's when the war started in earnest."

The creation of a breakaway state by the Igbo led to civil war in 1967 and Ejiofor's grandparents and family were constantly on the move, to newer and meaner homes.

The cost of living like this soon became all too evident. Arthur, Obiajulu's brother, died. "He didn't die in fighting, but like so many children out of circumstances," Ejiofor says. "He had a massive asthma attack and died, which was a breaking moment for the family." It was wartime. Medicine was unavailable.
"My mother was about 14 and the oldest and it was her responsibility to try to hold the family together, which she took on her shoulders and managed to do. My grandfather got sick and my grandmother was distressed. And my mother was there.
"My grandfather passed a couple of years ago but I spoke to him before he died. He and my grandmother would constantly say that my mother helped them in the war. She was 14.

"So it contextualises it for me. And the older I get the more I'm aware of what she did for me and my brother and my sisters and how hard it was for her. But one realises she had spirit and a real, fiery love of family that nothing was going to destroy."

As he talks about his mother I think back to what he had said about Solomon Northup, that idea of discovering in his writing "the psychology of a man who could survive something like this". Change the gender and you surely have Obiajulu.

This is a story about family, about migration, about how history shapes us. This is Ejiofor's story. It could be anyone's.

"What have you inherited from your parents, Chiwetel?" I ask before I leave. "So many things, I hope. How many I actually got …" He smiles. "I got very fortunate with my parents. They have always had a real love of life and a real belief that nothing is impossible if done with striding out and seeing what your limitations are and perhaps pushing beyond them. I hope that's what's been passed down."

I think it would be wonderful if he brought his Mum to the Oscars but I'm sure he'll bring his girlfriend Sari. From the outside looking in I wonder how significant others balance their jobs and still are able to attend all these gala events.

I dunno, he’s a nominee so I’ll bet he could bring them both. It would be so awesome to see him with his mom though. In a way it would be honoring her by bringing her to such a crowning achievement in his career, and given all she's done (I'm sure) to help him get there. But if not, Sari's a beautiful girl and they certainly look great together. As for how she balances her own life? Hmmm, good question. My guess is she's probably more committed to this relationship than anything else right now.

Good news. I caught a brief interview were Chiwetel made mention he was brining his Mum and Sari to the Academy Awards! I wonder if his Mum would walk the red carpet. At least when you are a nominee you get to bypass the lineup, but it still looks very chaotic. Press lines almost seem like lion pits.

Frankly, I think he deserved a nomination long before now. I hope he will still do the odd theatre production now and then. But his future is bright regardless of what he chooses. He has true talent so even if fickle Hollywood puts him on a back burner he'll come back stronger via a different route.

He's bringing his family? Cool.