King Mustafa Obafemi is an American actor. He was formerly known as Dwight Ewell and is best known for his memorable portrayal of the character Hooper X in the film Chasing Amy, directed by Kevin Smith. King has worked extensively in independent and art house films as well as some popular television shows. Besides Chasing Amy, his notable film credits include Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Flirt, Amateur, Man of the Century, Party Girl, The Guru, Stonewall, Kiss Me, Guido, and Punks. He has frequently collaborated with directors like Kevin Smith and Hal Hartley having worked with both directors a number of three times each.
After shooting a commercial for Pepsi Hollywood Mini cans which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and premiered at the Academy Awards that year, King moved to Egypt and took a hiatus from acting for several years where he enrolled himself in the Arabeya Arabic Language Learning Center to learn Egyptian Arabic, worked a regular 9 to 5 job in Maadi, Egypt and solo traveled, exploring Ancient Egyptian monuments. In 2025, he made a comeback to acting where he was cast in the role of Tom Webster in the new Hal Hartley film Where To Land which premiered at Roxy Cinema NYC September 2025 and has been making public appearances having done his very 1st Live One on One Interview with Kevin Smith, including as a celebrity guest at Kevin Smith’s Vulgarthon 2 (2024), Kevin Smith’s Chronic Con 2 Chicago (2025) and his very 1st guest appearance at Rhode Island Comic Con (2025).
King is a graduate of Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey, and later the State University of New York’s Theater Arts and Film Divisions Acting Program, where he was part of a group known as the “Purchase Mafia” that included actors like Melissa Leo, Stanley Tucci, Ede Falco, Wesley Snipes, Robert Burke, Parker Posey, Bill Sage, George Feaster and Seth Gilliam.
He adopted the name King Mustafa Obafemi for practical and personal reasons that stemmed from his time living in Egypt. His primary motivations for the name change were ease of pronunciation for the locals. He spent several years living in Egypt and experienced that locals had difficulty pronouncing the name “Dwight”. The name “Mustafa” was bestowed upon him from a a close Egyptian friend who shared that the name “Mustafa” was a popular name among Egyptians and that it is the name of the Muslim Prophet in Islam. In Arabic, the name “Mustafa” means “The One Who is Chosen”. The title “King” was a nickname affectionately given to him by the locals he befriended during his time in Egypt. King has also expressed a desire to distance himself from his former identity, stating on social media, “Formerly known as someone else but I am no longer him and he is no longer me” which suggests the name change also represented a personal evolution or a new chapter in his life.
For more information on King…
