Yahoo News Oscar hopeful Kingsley Ben-Adir says award talk is ‘surreal’
Kingsley Ben-Adir
(Danny Kasirye and ES Magazine)One Night in Miami star Kingsley Ben-Adir says talk of an Oscar nomination is “flattering” but “surreal” — as it wasn’t long ago he was struggling to get TV jobs.
The 35-year-old plays Malcolm X in the film, which dramatises the moment when the civil rights campaigner met soul singer Sam Cooke, American football star Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali to celebrate the latter becoming heavyweight boxing champion.
Ben-Adir, from Kentish Town, said he felt grounded despite noting “everyone else” connected with the film had “amazing pads” in Los Angeles while he still lives down the road from his friends.
But he admitted he could not ignore the Oscar buzz naming him as a contender for best actor. “The talk’s mad flattering and a bit surreal,” he said.
Ben-Adir was best known for playing a pathologist in ITV drama Vera and got his big break when the actor who was originally cast as Malcolm X dropped out, giving him less than a fortnight to prepare.
He said: “I didn’t have time to be nervous. The leaning [on others for help], and the worrying, and the not being sure — I have never been afforded that luxury.”
He also spoke of how he cried when he got the job on Vera — his first steady work — after 10 years of being “lucky if I was getting one or two auditions a month”.
He said: “I couldn’t get arrested in this country [before that]. I couldn’t get a job on the telly.”
Read the full interview in ES Magazine out on Friday
Read More
