Obi abili biography definition

After a peripatetic childhood, the British actor Obi Abili has won acclaim off Broadway in “The Emperor Jones.”

The British actor Obi Abili remembers what he was wearing (a Michigan Wolverines jacket, because anything American was cool) and who he was with (the hot girl from his high school, because he had wangled a date with her) the first time he saw the Quentin Tarantino film “Pulp Fiction.”

“And within 10 minutes,” he said, “she had just receded into the distance, because I was like: ‘What are these dudes doing?

Why am I laughing when someone’s head’s being blown off, and who is this cool guy with the Jheri curl? I want to be like Sam, man!’”

By Sam, of course, he meant Samuel L. Jackson, the “Pulp Fiction” star who last month criticized Hollywood for hiring black British actors to play African-American roles.

Mr. Abili is currently working off Broadway, not in films, but he is winning praise for his portrayal of an African