Has Hollywood Finally Figured Out What To Do With The Gifted Carmen Ejogo?
All it really takes to become a Carmen Ejogo superfan is to see the 43-year-old actress and singer perform in literally anything – the movie or TV show doesn’t even have to be good or particularly memorable because you can be rest assured, Ejogo will be.
We’ve watched the British-Nigerian elevate weak material for way too long – she’s been acting for over three decades – and there has thankfully been a shift in the past couple of years. From Selma to Fantastic Beasts, Ejogo seems to finally be landing roles worthy of her talents.
A powerhouse Hollywood almost wasted
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Ejogo was underutilized in thankless roles like Eddie Murphy’s love interest in Metro (1997); shoved in the backdrop of terrible films like The Avengers (1998) and Perfume (2001); or stuck with parts on forgettable shows like Cold Lazarus.
Even worse, those type of roles became virtually non-existent once she decided to have kids with her husband, Jeffery Wright (Westworld). That, paired with the genre limitations that come with being a woman of colour (no period pieces or rom-coms) and Hollywood nearly let this megawatt star dwindle.
Speaking with The Guardian about the early years of her career, Ejogo said:
“The industry wasn’t really ready for someone who looked like me, to put me at the helm in any kind of way.
I mean that racially but I also mean that in terms of age, in the sense that I think I’m being made better use of now as an actor at this age than I ever would have been made use of as a 20-year-old.”
Ejogo’s career renaissance seems to have officially started in 2014, when she played Coretta Scott King (for the second time) alongside fellow British-Nigerian, David Oyelowo, in Ava Duvernay’s Oscar-winning biopic, Selma.
Her powerhouse performance in that film (along with her strong and totally opposite turn in the Purgesequel that same year) must have forced Hollywood to finally pay attention – because she’s been getting meatier roles ever since.
Expect to see more of her
In 2015, she earned rave reviews for her hypnotic performance alongside Ethan Hawke in another biopic, Born To Blue. Then in 2016, she played the stoic President Seraphina Picquery in the hit Harry Potter prequel.
Now, on the heels of strong performances in two horror films, It Comes At Night and Alien: Covenant, Ejogo will be seen alongside Denzel Washington in the upcoming thriller, Roman J. Israel, Esq. She will also lead the second season of the acclaimed Starz show, The Girlfriend Experience.
