Dwight Ewell
Encyclopedia
Career
Ewell was born in Williamston, North Carolina to teenage parents. His father fought in Vietnam and served six years in the United States military while Dwight's mother took care of Dwight and his younger sister. Unhappy in her marriage, at 21 years old, Dwight's mom took the children up North where she felt that she could begin pursuing her career as a singer. The three moved several times before ending up in the rough Stella Wright Housing Projects on Prince Street, in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. Dwight and his sister attended the Louise A. Spencer Elementary School in Newark in the mid-1970s. In later years, Dwight was enrolled in The Gifted and Talented Program in the same school. It was there that his interest in the arts was nurtured. At the age of 9, he began writing plays that the teachers would allow him to direct and the students to perform. At the age of 13, Dwight auditioned for and was accepted into Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey. In 1986, he graduated, and in the fall of that year attended The State University of New York's Theater Arts and Film Divisions Acting Program for four years. Dwight attended with such actors as Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
, Sherry Stringfield
Sherry Stringfield
Sherry Lea Stringfield is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Dr. Susan Lewis on the medical television drama ER, a role for which she received three Emmy Award nominations. Stringfield was a member of ER's original cast, but she quit the show during its third season,...
, Terry Serpico
Terry Serpico
Terry Serpico is a film and television supporting actor.Serpico studied acting in college, graduating from SUNY-Purchase in 1989. He began his career as a stunt performer...
, Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam is an American actor. He is known for his HBO television roles, first as corrections officer-turned-prisoner Clayton Hughes on Oz, and later as Baltimore police detective promoted to sergeant Ellis Carver on The Wire. On both of these series, he co-starred with Lance Reddick and J.D....
, Laurence Mason
Laurence Mason
Laurence Mason is an American actor of stage, film and television.A first-generation American whose parents were originally from Trinidad, Mason graduated from New York City's High School of Performing Arts. His film credits include Hackers, Parallel Sons, Joey Breaker, True Romance, New York Cop...
, Reno Wilson
Reno Wilson
Roy Reno Wilson is an American actor and voice artist who has appeared in a number of television programs and films. His first television role was on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, where he portrayed Theo Huxtable's college friend Howard during Seasons 5 and 6 of the series...
, Adam Trese, Curtis McClarin, Orlagh Cassidy
Orlagh Cassidy
Orlagh Cassidy is an American actress. She attended the acting conservatory at the State University of New York at Purchase...
, Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
, Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...
, Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
, Oscar-winner Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
, William Burke, and directors such as Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...
and Nick Gomez
Nick Gomez
Nick Gomez is an American film director and actor. He has directed for a number of television and film studios. He has also acted in a few minor films...
, known to some in the entertainment business as The Purchase Mafia.
Ewell has worked extensively in independent and art house films. Ewell is best known for his performance in Kevin Smith's
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....
starring Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, where he plays the role of "Hooper X", an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
writer of black militant comic books, who is also homosexual but poses as a violent militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
. He delivers one of the film's more famous monologues, a diatribe denouncing the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
trilogy (especially Return of the Jedi) as racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
.
Ewell has collaborated with director Hal Hartley on short- and feature-length films; including Amateur
Amateur (film)
Amateur is a 1994 film written and directed by Hal Hartley starring Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan and Elina Löwensohn.-Title:The title is also an acronym, encompassing elements of the film* Accountancy* Murder* Amnesia* Torture* Ecstasy...
and Flirt.
He has also worked with director Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Daisy von Scherler Mayer, sometimes credited as Daisy Mayer is an American film and television director.-Biography:...
twice, in the films Party Girl
Party Girl (1995 film)
Party Girl is a 1995 film directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer. It is notable as being the first commercial comedy-drama feature film shown in its entirety on the Internet....
and The Guru.
Ewell has worked with film producer Christine Vachon twice, on the films Stonewall
Stonewall (film)
Stonewall is a 1995 historical comedy-drama film. Inspired by the memoir of the same title by openly gay historian Martin Duberman, Stonewall is a fictionalized account of the weeks leading up to the Stonewall riots, a seminal event in the modern American gay rights movement...
and Kiss Me, Guido
Kiss Me, Guido
Kiss Me, Guido is a 1997 independent film comedy. Written and directed by Tony Vitale, it stars Nick Scotti, Anthony Barrile, Anthony DeSando and Craig Chester.-Synopsis:...
.
Filmography
- Heavy Blow (1992) ... Columbia University student film
- Cowboy Jesus (1992) ... N.Y.U. student film
- Flirt (1993) .... Dwight
- NYC 3/94 (1994)
- Someone Else's America (1994) ... Video-man
- Party GirlParty Girl (1995 film)Party Girl is a 1995 film directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer. It is notable as being the first commercial comedy-drama feature film shown in its entirety on the Internet....
(1995) ... He-He-Hello Trio - StonewallStonewall (film)Stonewall is a 1995 historical comedy-drama film. Inspired by the memoir of the same title by openly gay historian Martin Duberman, Stonewall is a fictionalized account of the weeks leading up to the Stonewall riots, a seminal event in the modern American gay rights movement...
(1995) ... Helen Wheels - Flirt (1995) ... Dwight
- Chasing AmyChasing AmyChasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....
(1997) ... Hooper X - Kiss Me, GuidoKiss Me, GuidoKiss Me, Guido is a 1997 independent film comedy. Written and directed by Tony Vitale, it stars Nick Scotti, Anthony Barrile, Anthony DeSando and Craig Chester.-Synopsis:...
(1997) ... Usher - Niagara, NiagaraNiagara, NiagaraNiagara, Niagara is a 1997 film directed by Bob Gosse, and starring Henry Thomas , Robin Tunney as well as Michael Parks , John Ventimiglia and Stephen Lang ....
(1997) ... Toy Store Manager - Brooklyn SouthBrooklyn SouthBrooklyn South is an American ensemble police drama series that aired on CBS for only one season during the 1997-98 television season. The series was co-created by Steven Bochco, Bill Clark, David Milch and William M. Finkelstein. Bochco is the creator of many well-known police dramas such as Hill...
(1997) TV episodic, episode titled 'Love Hurts', co star ... Bystander - Budweiser, commercial (1998) regional ... (principal performer) - Director, Spike LeeSpike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
- The Pavilion (1999) ... Robert Owa
- Man of the CenturyMan of the CenturyMan of the Century is a 1999 comedy film directed by Adam Abraham and written by Abraham and Gibson Frazier. The film stars Frazier, Cara Buono, Susan Egan, Dwight Ewell and Anthony Rapp. It is a farce about the attitudes, values, and slang displayed in the popular culture of the 1920s . Man of...
(1999) ... Richard Lancaster - On the Run (1999) ... Rasta
- The Waiting Game (1999) ... Joe
- DogmaDogma (film)Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...
(1999) ... Kane, Gang Leader - The Debtors (1999)
- Hey, Joel (1999) cartoon; voice-over ... Baby Shiv (VH-1)
- Endsville (2000) ... Shawn Walker
- The InternThe InternThe Intern is a 2000 comedy satire film directed by Michael Lange about the shallow world of fashion magazines. It stars Dominique Swain, Joan Rivers, Peggy Lipton and Kathy Griffin...
(2000) ... Gustave - PunksPunks (film)Punks is a 2001 film produced by Babyface, directed by Patrik-Ian Polk and starring Rockmond Dunbar, Seth Gilliam, Renoly Santiago, Jazzmun, and Dwight Ewell....
(2000) ... Hill - Jay and Silent Bob Strike BackJay and Silent Bob Strike BackJay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American action adventure comedy film written, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...
(2001) ... Hooper LaMont - Wheelmen (2002) ... Terry
- The Guru (2002) ... Peaches
- Pagans (2004) ... Max Stone
- Fighting Words (2007) ... Leopold
- A Mi Amor Mi Dulce (2007)... Dom Doos Po Phool
- Yes To Victory (2009) ... Norman
- The Eagles In The Chicken Coop (2009) ... Hal Calloway
- Twentysixmiles (2009) pilot, recurring ... Dill Truman Fontaine
- 9021090210 (TV series)90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...
(2009) TV episodic, episode titled 'Zero Tolerance', episode titled 'To New Beginnings' Fox Network, co star ... Mr. Irving/Health Teacher - MediumMedium (TV series)Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
(2010) TV episodic, episode titled 'Allison Rolen Got Married', co star ... The Florist