Chiwetel Ejiofor says losing his father in a car accident when he was just 11 changed his outlook on life

12 Years a Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor has opened up about how he coped with the tragic and heartbreaking loss of his father when he was just 11

Chiwetel Ejiofor has spoken candidly about his traumatic childhood and how he coped with the loss of his father in a fatal car accident.

The actor has opened up about the harrowing moment he found out his father Arinze had died when he was just 11 years old.

He lost his life in the Nigeria disaster and Chiwetel says it changed the way he saw the world growing up. His father’s vehicle collided with a truck on a freeway

The 44-year-old spoke to him British GQ about how he rebuilt his life after the painful loss.

He said: “Grief is something you live with forever in different ways. Losing a parent at a young age has a profound impact on the way you view life.

“One recognizes the value of some things and the preciousness of life itself at an early age, which most people only acquire later.

“You definitely carry certain fears or neuroses with you. Some are legitimate, but you lose many ideas about knowledge.”

The 12 Years A Slave star has previously spoken out about the fight for racial equality.

“It will take a sustained generational effort to deprogram these ideas of racial hierarchy, but BLM has been a very successful campaign to get the West to think a certain way,” he said.

“Much of the West has tried to remove some of this programming. But it’s a long and tedious process because certain people are very passionate about it.”

Chiwetel recently opened up about his latest role – an alien who comes to Earth as part of a plan to save it and his home planet.

In the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, he loves being an alien and told CNN it’s a role he couldn’t resist.

“I thought the character of Faraday was just a great opportunity,” he said.

“To go on such a crazy but beautiful kind of arc and journey as an actor with this character, to really find something remarkable.”

The series is being touted as an “inspired sequel” to the 1976 science fiction film starring David Bowie.

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