Idris Elba

QUICK FACTS
NAME
Idris Elba
OCCUPATION
Singer, Actor
BIRTH DATE
September 6, 1972 (age 46)
DID YOU KNOW?
Idris Elba portrayed the Norse mythological character Heimdall, watcher of the rainbow bridge and beyond, in the Thor film series.
EDUCATION
National Youth Music Theatre
PLACE OF BIRTH
London, England, United Kingdom
NICKNAME
Big Driis
Driis
ZODIAC SIGN
Virgo

Idris Elba Biography
Singer, Actor (1972-)
Idris Elba is an award-winning British actor known for his roles in screen projects such as 'The Wire', 'Luther', 'Thor', 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' and 'The Dark Tower'.
Synopsis
Born on September 6, 1972, in London, England, actor Idris Elba starred in British productions before heading to the United States, earning acclaim as head of crime at The Wire. He devoted himself to the film with a mix of leading roles and supporting roles such as Daddy's Little Girls, Thor, Prometheus and The Dark Tower. Elba won a Golden Globe Award for his role in the television series Luther and played Nelson Mandela in the biopic Long Walk to Freedom.

Background
Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on September 6, 1972 in the Hackney section of East London, England. As the only daughter of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian descent, Elba finally attended the training programs of the National Youth Music Theater. He obtained several papers in the British television and worked with his father in a factory of automobiles before arriving at the United States. He settled in Brooklyn, New York and Jersey City, New Jersey, working as a doorman at the Carolines comedy club and playing the DJ while struggling to make ends meet.


Advance 'Wire'
Idris Elba had his big break as the protagonist of crime boss "Stringer" Bell in several seasons of HBO's highly acclaimed drama The Wire. Other parties followed, although Elba later regretted that he continued to receive many offers for gangster roles during this time.

The sculptural Elba also went on to a career on the big screen, achieving roles in a variety of genres. He acted as a mechanic in the feature film Daddy's Little Girls (2007) by Tyler Perry, a general in 28 Weeks Later (2007) and a devoted husband with Beyoncé Knowles in Obsession (2009). Science fiction and fantasy also called the actor, as was seen with his roles as the Scottish god Heimdall in Thor (2011) of Marvel Comics, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and as ship captain Janek in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012) . Other films on the Elba list of this period include This Christmas (2007) and RocknRolla (2008).

'Luther' and 'Mandela'
Elba also continued his television work over the years with series such as The Office, The Big C and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The actor has received multiple Emmy nominations and won a 2012 Golden Globe Award for his leading role in the BBC America series Luther, portraying a driven but tortured detective whose behavior raises ethical issues.


In the summer of 2013, Elba was seen as a Stacker Pentecost in the film The Robberies and Monsters of Pacific from the Edge of Guillermo del Toro. That fall, he won accolades for his portrayal of President Nelson Mandela in the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, starring alongside Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela. The actor won the buzz of the Oscars and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as the famous South African activist. (He lost the Globe to Matthew McConaughey, who won for his lead role in the 2013 Dallas Buyers Club).

In 2014, Elba starred in the thriller No Good Deed, directed by Sam Miller and co-starring Taraji Henson of Empire. The following year, he played a military commander in the acclaimed Netflix drama Beasts of No Nation and continued his lead role in Luther, earning Golden Globe nominations for both. In 2016, Elba appeared in several films that include A Hundred Streets, Bastille Day and Star Trek Beyond. Then he played Roland Deschain / The Gunslinger in The Dark Tower (2017), based on the series by Stephen King and co-star of Matthew McConaughey.

Elba has continued to tour as a DJ internationally. He has also performed as a singer and rapper, and is called Driis (Big).