Wright’s iteration of Felix was introduced in Casino Royale, where he took part in the high-stakes poker game that had James Bond and main antagonist Le Chiffre among its other players.
Since the James Bond movie series began in 1962, Felix Leiter has appeared in nine movies; 10 if you count 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which was a remake of Thunderball.
Since Casino Royale served as a reboot, this marked James and Felix’s first meeting, and fortunately, Felix was kind enough financially back James after he’d lost his earnings so that he could beat Le Chiffre, on the condition that Felix could take the evildoer into custody for the CIA.
Aside from David Hedison, Jeffrey Wright is the only other actor to play Felix in more than one movie.