Maynard Eziashi (born 1965 in London, England
[) is a Nigerian-English][ actor. In 1991, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the ]41st Berlin International Film Festival
The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1991. The festival opened with ''Uranus'' by Claude Berri. The Golden Bear was awarded to Italian film '' La casa del sorriso'' directed by Marco Ferreri. The ret ...
for his starring role in '' Mister Johnson'' (1990).
Early life
Eziashi was born in London, England.[
Went to The Sacred Heart RC Secondary school in Camberwell New Green, London
]
Career
Eziashi has been in the international movie business since 1986.[ In 1991, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the ]41st Berlin International Film Festival
The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1991. The festival opened with ''Uranus'' by Claude Berri. The Golden Bear was awarded to Italian film '' La casa del sorriso'' directed by Marco Ferreri. The ret ...
for his starring role in '' Mister Johnson'' (1990) which also starred Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...
.[ Owen Gleiberman of '' Entertainment Weekly'' wrote "Eziashi plays him with such a relentless, singsong inscrutability that by the end of the movie, he veers uncomfortably close to becoming a liberal-humanist Stepin Fetchit." Janet Maslin of '' The New York Times'' wrote "The lively Mr. Eziashi is good at conveying Johnson's charm and buoyancy, though much of the character's wiliness gets lost." Jay Boyar of the '' Orlando Sentinel'' wrote "Mister Johnson is a multilayered character, and Nigerian-born actor Maynard Eziashi knows just when to shed each layer." Dave Kehr of the '' Chicago Tribune'' wrote "...as Johnson, the Nigerian actor Eziashi achieves an effective manic blur that allows him to move gracefully between comedy and tragic hysteria." Ralph Novak of '' People'' wrote "Eziashi's performance as the title character is a masterful display of subtlety and insight into a man of great loyalty and deep love for his wife and child, as well as irresistible impulses to lie and steal." David Sterritt of '' The Christian Science Monitor'' wrote "The triumph of the movie, though, is Nigerian actor Maynard Eziashi playing Mister Johnson himself, in as witty and persuasive a performance as I've seen this year."
Eziashi portrayed Zweli, the son of ]Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
's character in '' Bopha!'' (1993), which was the directorial debut of Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
.
Eziashi also worked with Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
in '' Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'' (1995).
Eziashi has also starred in ''Twenty-One
21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22.
The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar.
In mathematics
21 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a deficie ...
'' (1991) and '' A Good Man in Africa'' (1994), the latter starring Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
.[ He also portrayed Edgar in the 2001 film '']When Brendan Met Trudy
''When Brendan Met Trudy'' is a 2000 film directed by Kieron J. Walsh and starring Peter McDonald and Flora Montgomery. It was written by Roddy Doyle. The screenplay concerns a Dublin schoolteacher who falls in love with a mysterious young woma ...
''. Eziashi reunited with Freeman and ''Mister Johnson'' director Bruce Beresford in the 2006 film, '' The Contract''.
"It was pleasurable working with them. Some of them have become good friends and I am still in contact with them till this day," Eziashi says on the number of Hollywood top stars he has worked with.[
]
2010s
On 22 January 2012 it was reported that Eziashi took part in a film titled, '' Streets of Calabar''. The film also starred Wale Ojo
Wale Ojo is a British Nigerian actor. He started as a child actor in television. He subsequently continued acting roles in the UK and Nigeria. He came into prominence in 1995 for his role in '' The Hard Case''. He won the award for Best Actor ...
, Anthony Ofoegbu, Lisa Kill Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), ...
and Viquie Christie; the film has been shot on location in Calabar, Cross River State. Eziashi stated that he was portraying, "Chief Detective Okoro." According to Eziashi, ''Streets of Calabar'' is the second movie he has done in Nigeria, the first being '' Mister Johnson'' which was shot in Jos
Jos is a city in the north central region of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State.
During British ...
. "This job am doing now is a fantastic experience for me. Being in Calabar alone has been a pleasurable experience. I have not been in the city before. Everyday am discovering something new," Eziashi says of his experience with the project.[
Eziashi also revealed that he would be producing two movies afterwards, which are '']Incomparable Worlds
Incomparable may refer to:
* Comparability, in mathematics, with respect to a given relation over a set
*HMS Incomparable, a proposal for a very large battlecruiser, suggested in 1915
*Incomparable (diamond), one of the largest diamonds ever found ...
'' and '' The Seven Crossroads''.[
From 6 November to 1 December 2013 Eziashi participated in the performance of Paul Herzberg's play, ]The Dead Wait
''The Dead Wait'' is a play by Paul Herzberg which tells the tale of a young South African athlete, conscripted as a soldier in the Angolan Civil War, who tries to own up to a crime on arriving back home. Partly autobiographical, it draws on He ...
at The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, where he was portraying the role of George. Eziashi has compared his acting experiences on the production with his past experiences on ''Bopha!'' since both stories are set in South Africa. Herzberg also acted in the production, and Eziashi described him as " a very generous man."
Personal life
Eziashi is not well known in Nollywood, but he is well known in Hollywood.[
On Nollywood, Eziashi states, "I will say the Nigerian movie industry is doing very well. When we compare the industries we have to take out the advantage of time Hollywood has over Nollywood. If we compare the first 10–20 years of Hollywood with that of Nollywood you would realize Nollywood is doing fabulously well."][
Along with acting, Eziashi is also the ]restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
of The Lounge bar and eatery, located in Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eziashi, Maynard
1965 births
Living people
English male film actors
Male actors from London
Black British male actors
English people of Nigerian descent
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
Silver Bear for Best Actor winners