David Oyelowo Fun Facts, Quotes and Tweets


23rd August 2016

Fact: Director Ava DuVernay and her Selma leading man David Oyelowo have been appointed ambassadors for the 2016 Urbanworld Film Festival. The event, which will feature movies, short films, and live readings of screenplays, will take place in New York City from 21 to 25 September (16).


18th September 2015

Quote: "My dad has four tribal marks on his cheek and it was a way of identifying which tribe you're from, but he told me that he had fought a tiger. When I was struggling at school, he said, 'Anyone that messes with you, tell them I fought a tiger... and he would come and get me (from school) and there were the tribal marks. They (kids) were impressed and terrified. And then we went back to Nigeria and all my uncles had fought tigers...! There are no tigers in Nigeria." Selma star David Oyelowo grew up thinking his father's facial scars were trophies from a battle with a big cat.


17th September 2015

Quote: "I worked for a very famous fast food chain that will remain nameless and I did a bad thing. I was so bad at the fries and burgers and all of that... I was relegated to washing all the utensils, and a colleague of mine had washed the toilets with a brush and a bucket and then left the bucket next to the sink, and I used the toilet brush to wash all of the utensils." Actor David Oyelowo fears he may have unwittingly passed on a host of germs to diners at a London fast food restaurant in the years before he found fame.


17th September 2015

Quote: "He doesn't get so much starstruck; he sort of gets paternal in that way that if you're at school and you're having a parent/teacher meeting... Meeting Tom Cruise, he went, 'Thank you for looking after David... Did he behave?'" David Oyelowo's father embarrassed him when he met his Jack Reacher co-star.


2nd February 2015

Quote: "It turns out God has really great taste. When I pray to him about which roles I should do, it's a great guide. When I first read Selma, he told me I was going to play that part. And having been told by him that it was going to happen, I knew it would." British actor David Oyelowo is convinced his role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma was a gift from God.


20th January 2015

Quote: "I have four children and I cannot imagine walking through life every day knowing there were people on earth who wanted to take my four children's lives and my wife's life. And then to leave and go and do it anyway. The question I asked myself constantly was, 'How did he do it?'" David Oyelowo on his admiration for slain civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who he portrays in new movie Selma.


13th January 2015

Quote: "I cannot tell you how formative that is for my family... You know that look that people have when they're about to have a car crash? That's the look, when my name's on the page, that's what people (who have to read it) look like... My dad saw that video of Brad and said (in Nigerian accent), 'David, that man has put our name on the map!'" British actor David Oyelowo is forever thankful to Selma co-producer Brad Pitt for teaching the public how to say his Nigerian family's last name. Pitt led the audience at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California on an impromptu sing-a-long to the tune of popular soccer chant, Ole, Ole, Ole, to demonstrate the proper pronunciation earlier this month (Jan15).


13th January 2015

Quote: "I was at my table, I saw Meryl Streep across a crowded room, thinking, 'Oh my goodness, the greatest actress' - in my opinion - 'who has ever lived' and she beckoned me over. She said, 'You'. I walked over and she said, 'I have to talk to you... I saw your film last night' and she was eulogistic about it, she was very, very nice about me. I lost my cool a little bit, which I regret, but that was a great moment." British actor David Oyelowo was left speechless by the Hollywood veteran's praise for his portrayal of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma during the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday (11Jan15).


5th January 2015

Quote: "My middle son is in the movie, plays Mlk Iii... And boy did he catch the (acting) bug!" British star David Oyelowo reveals his son, Caleb, is eager to follow in his father's footsteps after landing a small role in his dad's critically-acclaimed movie Selma, in which the 38 year old plays civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr.


5th January 2015

Quote: "When we were about to get married, both of us actors, (and) we looked at the fact that clearly it's a very challenging profession in which to have a marriage which goes on for decades and decades and decades... and so we each said we're gonna have a two week rule, so we're never apart for more than two weeks. And we've kept it for 16 years." Selma star David Oyelowo reveals the secret to his successful marriage to wife Jessica. The couple, parents to three sons, wed in 1998.


11th December 2014

Quote: "We're in Toronto, it's snowing outside, I'm with one of my best friends in the whole world, David Oyelowo. We're very, very thrilled that the film was recognised, what a morning!" Selma director Ava DuVernay shared the excitement of the film's four Golden Globe Awards nominations with her leading man, David Oyelowo, who portrays late civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. onscreen.


6th November 2014

Quote: "Oprah is a huge figure in my life now. She saw an audition tape of me being Martin Luther King, Jr. and she became obsessed. And from that moment on, I would get phone calls from far flung parts of the planet saying, 'I spoke to so and so we're gonna try to make this happen!'" British actor David Oyelowo has media mogul Oprah Winfrey to thank for his role as the civil rights leader in their highly-anticipated film Selma. Oyelowo and Winfrey previously worked together on Lee Daniels' The Butler.


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