David Oyelowo: ‘Like a lot of immigrants, my dad was all about work, work, work’

In his downtime, David Oyelowo enjoys watching mixed martial arts. There is something pure, he has said, about two people entering a cage and one exiting the winner. It’s a meritocracy he admires: brutal but fair. Suffice to say, his latest character – that of Coriolanus, Shakespeare’s most ruthless Roman warrior, a man who “moves like an engine” – would also be a fan.

At 48, Oyelowo looks not unlike an MMA fighter himself. Even in the knitted sweater and painter’s jacket he’s got on today, the actor seems substantial and sinewy. “I bulked up for practical reasons,” Oyelowo tells me, taking a seat in a backroom of the National Theatre. “It’s a very physically demanding role. Eight shows a week. It’s no joke. People may think it sounds lovely to be getting massages but if I didn’t, I’d be a walking ball of lactic acid.”