Ejiofor plays the mission director in The Martian, the character who has to weigh a rescue against the risk of losing a second crew. He plays deliberation rather than urgency, and the film's institutional half works because he makes calculation look like a physical effort rather than a plot mechanism.
He is British, of Nigerian descent, and came from the National Youth Theatre and London stage before film, where he has continued to work between screen projects. He has also directed, adapting a memoir about a Malawian inventor into a feature he shot on location and largely in the local language.
Recurring subjects: endurance, men holding a position under sustained pressure, and dignity maintained in degrading circumstances. He plays quietly and precisely, and he is unusually good at conveying that a character is calculating rather than simply reacting, which suits procedural material exactly.
He drew an Academy Award nomination for a lead role in a historical drama about slavery, a performance built almost entirely on restraint, and his stage work has brought major theatre awards. His directing debut was well received and marked a genuine second career rather than a vanity project.
For viewers who want performances built on restraint under pressure. Suited to anyone approaching the survival film, and to those who should follow it with the historical drama about slavery, which is considerably harder to watch.
