Hollywood Goes Global in Toronto Film Festival Offerings

Jaap Buitendijk/Fox Searchlight Pictures Benedict Cumberbatch, left, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave.”

TORONTO â€" Chiwetel Ejiofor, major movie star. Who’d have guessed?

But there he is, plain as the twinkle in Brad Pitt’s eye, soaking up cover space that might once have been reserved for Mr. Pitt on the Now tabloid’s giant guide to the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Ejiofor, who was born in London to Nigerian parents, arrives here as the lead actor in “12 Years a Slave,” which counts Mr. Pitt as one of its stars and producers, and has been jumped into a rich mix of early Oscar contenders by Fox Searchlight.

He also joins a growing string of international actors â€" Daniel Brühl and Benedict Cumberbatch among them â€" who have grabbed top billing in some of Hollywood’s most prominent films.

The film industry’s growing willingness to cast without borders may partly be a business decision. If a larger share of Hollywood’s revenue now comes from abroad, it is only natural to turn elsewhere for leading players like Marion Cotillard, Jean Dujardin and Christoph Waltz.

But the prominence of non-American actors in films that are either directed by Americans, as with Ron Howard’s “Rush,” which co-stars Mr. Brühl, or tell American stories, as does “12 Years a Slave,” may also point to the changing character of Hollywood’s output, at least during those five or six months that constitute the awards season.

Many of the prize films are being driven far more by story than by the name value of their stars. In a story-driven film like “12 Years a Slave,” which was directed by the London-born Steve McQueen and written by John Ridley, an American, fine actors like Mr. Ejiofor â€" previously known as one of the guys in “Salt” or “2012” â€" can suddenly become, in the words of the Now tabloid cover, “an early Oscar contender.”