Jeffrey Wright

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Jeffrey Wright at San Diego Comic Con 2019

Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965 in Washington, DC ) is an American actor who has received awards including Tony , Emmy and Golden Globe . Well-known roles are the title character in Basquiat , Felix Leiter in James Bond 007: Casino Royale and Beetee in The Hunger Games - Catching Fire .

life and career

Jeffrey Wright attended the St. Albans School for Boys in Washington. He then went to Amherst College in Massachusetts . There he obtained his bachelor's degree in political science in 1987 in order to continue studying at a law faculty . However, he decided to study acting instead . When he got a scholarship to New York University , he attended school for two months, but then left to become a full-time actor. He made a few appearances on Off-Broadway in New York City and Washington, DC

In 1990 he was seen for the first time in a major film. He played an attorney in For Lack of Evidence alongside Harrison Ford . In 1991 he joined John Houseman's US touring theater company The Acting Company . Were played A Midsummer Night's Dream and Athol Fugard's The Blood Knot .

Wright continued his theatrical performances and in 1994 got the role of Norman "Belize" Arriaga in Tony Kushner's award-winning play Angel in America (later filmed with Wright) . His portrayal of a gay male nurse caring for Roy Cohn , who had AIDS and was dying , earned him a Tony Award .

In 1996 he played the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat in the film Basquiat . The film shows the suffering of a young and black artist who becomes enormously successful in a white-dominated New York until he dies tragically at the age of 27. Wright's portrayal was again critically acclaimed and gave him the opportunity to work with well-known actors such as Gary Oldman , Willem Dafoe , Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken . During the filming he also met his future wife Carmen Ejogo , whom he married in August 2000.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Wright starred in memorable leading and supporting roles. Including roles in Woody Allen's Celebrity - Beautiful. Rich. Famous. , Shaft Any questions? and the television film Boycott , in which he again gave a critically acclaimed portrayal, this time as Martin Luther King , and won an AFI Award . In 2003, he starred again Norman "Belize" Arriaga in the award-winning television adaptation of Angels in America alongside Al Pacino , Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep , directed by Mike Nichols . His performance earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries . In 2004 he starred in Jonathan Demme's remake The Manchurian Candidate alongside Denzel Washington , Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber . That year he also received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Amherst College .

In 2005 he starred in Lackawanna Blues , the directorial debut of his friend George C. Wolfe , with many respected African Americans. He also appeared in Broken Flowers and Syriana . In 2005 he was also on stage with the piece This Is How It Goes together with colleagues such as Ben Stiller and Amanda Peet .

In 2006 Wright starred in M. Night Shyamalan's The Girl from the Water and in the 21st James Bond film Casino Royale . He was the first African American to play the role of CIA agent Felix Leiter in an official Bond film. Bernie Casey only embodied this in the "unofficial" Bond film Never Say Never . Wright is also the first to take on this role three times. He was also involved in the sequel James Bond 007: A Quantum of Solace (2008) and in No Time to Die (2020). David Hedison took on the role twice: in 1973 in Live and Let Die and in 1989 in License to Kill . In 2008 Wright played the blues legend Muddy Waters on the side of Adrien Brody in the film Cadillac Records . In 2013 he played the role of Beetee in the science fiction film The Hunger Games - Catching Fire and repeated this role in the two sequels.

Since 2016 he has embodied one of the central characters by the name of Bernard Lowe in the science fiction western series Westworld , which is based on the 1973 film of the same name .

Wright and his wife, Carmen Ejogo, have two children and live in Brooklyn, New York .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1994: Tony Award for Angels in America: Perestroika for Best Supporting Actor in a Play
  • 2000: Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Shaft - Any questions? as best supporting actor
  • 2002: Tony Award nomination for Topdog / Underdog for best leading actor in a play
  • 2002: AFI TV Award for Boycott
  • 2004: Emmy Award for Angels in America for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
  • 2004: Golden Globe Award for Angels in America for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
  • 2004: Black Reel Award for Angels in America for Best Supporting Actor on TV
  • 2005: San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Broken Flowers for Best Supporting Actor
  • 2006: Black Reel Award for Lackawanna Blues for Best Supporting Actor on TV
  • 2017: Emmy nomination for Westworld for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Web links

Commons : Jeffrey Wright  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wright, Jeffrey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC , United States