Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on the 6th of September 1972 in the London Borough of Hackney, the only child to Winston Elba, a Sierra Leonean man who worked at the Ford Dagenham plant, and Eve, a Ghanaian woman. His parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London, but the young boy grew up navigating the streets of Hackney and East Ham with a singular focus that would eventually lead him to global stardom. He shortened his first name to Idris while attending school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, a decision that would set the trajectory for his entire life. Before he ever stepped onto a professional stage, Elba was already working odd jobs to support himself, including tyre-fitting, cold-calling, and night shifts at Ford Dagenham, mirroring the work of his father. He briefly attended Barking and Dagenham College but left school in 1988, winning a place in the National Youth Music Theatre after securing a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant. It was during this period that he began helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business, and within a year, he had started his own DJ company with some of his friends, performing under the nickname Big Driis in nightclubs during his adolescence. The Stage gave him his first big break after he saw an advertisement for a play, auditioned, and subsequently met his first agent while performing in the role, proving that his destiny was not written in the stars but forged in the gritty reality of London's working-class neighborhoods.
The Wire And The Wire
In 1994, Elba's first acting role appeared in Crimewatch murder reconstructions, but it was his 1995 appearance in a BBC children's drama called The Boot Street Band that marked his entry into scripted television. He landed his first significant role on a series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England, playing a central character named Charlie Carter, an African petty thief who lost his wife to childbirth and had to figure out how to support his newborn daughter. His first named role arrived earlier in 1995 when he was cast as a gigolo on the Sex episode of Absolutely Fabulous, followed by many supporting roles on British television including series such as The Bill and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. He joined the cast of the soap opera Family Affairs and went on to appear on the television serial Ultraviolet and later on Dangerfield. He decided to move to New York City soon afterward, returning to England occasionally for a television role, such as a part in one of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries. In 2001, Elba played Achilles in a stage production of Troilus and Cressida in New York City, and in 1997, he starred in the first two episodes of the second series Blood, Sweat and Tears in Silent Witness. After a supporting turn on a 2001 episode of Law & Order, Elba landed a starring role on the HBO drama series The Wire. From 2002 to 2004, Elba portrayed Stringer Bell in the series, perhaps his best-known role in the United States, a character that showcased his ability to play a ruthless and charismatic figure. He is also known for playing the character Aaron Smith in the 2003 Jamaican film, One Love, but it was Stringer Bell that truly established his reputation as a serious actor capable of carrying complex narratives.Luther And The Long Walk
In 2005, he portrayed Captain Augustin Muganza in Sometimes in April, an HBO film about the Rwandan genocide, and appeared on the 2007 BET special Black Men: The Truth. He appeared as Charlie Gotso on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, filmed in Botswana, which premiered on the 23rd of March 2008, Easter Sunday, on BBC One, receiving a high 6.3 million viewers and 27% of the audience share. In January 2009, Variety reported that Elba would portray Charles Miner, a new rival to Dunder Mifflin regional manager Michael Scott for NBC's The Office, appearing in a six-episode story arc later in the 2009 season, as well as the season finale. In September 2009, he signed a deal to star as the lead role on the six-part BBC television series Luther, which aired in May 2010. He appeared on Showtime's The Big C in 2010, and at the 69th Golden Globe Awards telecast on the 15th of January 2012, Elba won Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role on the BBC crime thriller series Luther. In 2007, Elba signed on to play the lead role of the film Daddy's Little Girls, playing Monty, a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with an attorney helping him gain custody of his kids, and finds the relationship and his custody hopes threatened by the return of his former wife. He appeared in 28 Weeks Later and This Christmas, which brought in nearly $50 million at the box office in 2007. In 2008, he starred in the horror film Prom Night and the Guy Ritchie London gangster film RocknRolla. In 2009, he starred in the horror film The Unborn and in Obsessed, a thriller that had him cast opposite Beyoncé, the latter was a box office success, taking $29 million in its opening weekend. Elba's next film was Legacy, in which he portrayed a black ops soldier who returns to Brooklyn after a failed mission in Eastern Europe, where he has undertaken a journey looking for retribution. He starred in Dark Castle's adaptation of DC/Vertigo's The Losers, under the direction of Sylvain White, in the role of Roque, the second-in-command of a black-ops team out for revenge against a government that did them wrong. Filming took place in Puerto Rico, and the movie was released in April 2010. Elba appeared in the thriller Takers in 2010. He played Heimdall in Kenneth Branagh's film Thor, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. In August 2010, Elba signed up to portray the title character in a reboot of James Patterson's Alex Cross film franchise, but in February 2011, he was replaced by Tyler Perry. In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the sequel to Ghost Rider, Elba played an alcoholic warrior monk tasked with finding the title character. In his first video game appearance, Elba voiced the character Truck in the 2011 game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In February 2012, Elba confirmed that he would portray Nelson Mandela in the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which is based on his autobiography. As part of his preparation for the role, Elba spent a night locked in a cell alone on Robben Island, where Mandela had been imprisoned. His performance earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor , Motion Picture Drama. In June 2012, Elba portrayed the role of Captain Janek in Ridley Scott's Prometheus. He joined the cast of the film Pacific Rim in the role of Stacker Pentecost. He reprised his role as Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World in 2013. In January 2014, he confirmed that he would be starring in a film adaptation of Luther. In 2014, he starred in No Good Deed as a vengeful psychopathic serial killer.The Voice Of Heroes
In 2015, Elba appeared as Heimdall in the superhero blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron, directed by Joss Whedon. Elba also starred alongside Abraham Attah in the film Beasts of No Nation, which premiered in select theatres and on Netflix. He earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, as well as a BAFTA Award nomination for Supporting Actor in the Film category. In 2016, he had several voice roles: the cape buffalo chief of police, Chief Bogo, in Disney's Zootopia, alongside Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman; villainous tiger Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, a live-action adaptation of the animated 1967 film of the same name, directed by Jon Favreau; and sea lion Fluke in Pixar's Finding Dory, alongside Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks in Finding Nemo. Also that year, he played the main antagonist, Krall, in the sequel Star Trek Beyond. In 2017, he played Roland Deschain in the Stephen King film adaptation The Dark Tower, starred in The Mountain Between Us and Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut Molly's Game, alongside Jessica Chastain. In April 2018, it was announced that Elba was cast as Charlie in the Netflix comedy series, Turn Up Charlie, which premiered on the 15th of March 2019 and was cancelled after one season. He also created and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy In the Long Run. In 2019, Elba starred as the villain in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a spin-off of Fast & Furious franchise, and played Macavity in Tom Hooper's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats. In 2021, Elba portrayed mercenary Robert Milton DuBois / Bloodsport in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. In 2022, Elba was the voice of Knuckles the Echidna in the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog which is itself based on the franchise of the same name. He reprised the role in a self-titled solo series for Paramount+ and returned for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, both in 2024. Elba provided voice-acting and his likeness to the character Solomon Reed in Phantom Liberty, a 2023 downloadable expansion for CD Projekt Red's 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077. In 2025, he played both the prime minister of the United Kingdom in Heads of State, and the president of the United States in A House of Dynamite. On the 22nd of November 2024, Deadline announced he was cast as Duncan, Man-at-Arms in Amazon Prime's movie Masters of the Universe.The Sound Of The City
Elba has appeared in music videos for Fat Joe in 2002, Angie Stone in 2004 and rapper Giggs in 2010. In 2006, he recorded the four-song EP Big Man for Hevlar Records. He co-produced and performed on the intro to Jay-Z's album American Gangster in 2007. He DJed at the 2007 NBA All-Star parties at The Venetian and Ice House Lounge in Las Vegas. In July 2009, Elba was the DJ for BET's current series Rising Icons. He announced the release of his first single Please Be True. In the August 2009 issue of Essence, he announced the title of his six-song EP as Kings Among Kings. He released his EP High Class Problems Vol. 1 in the United Kingdom in February 2010, for which he has won many prizes, including a Billboard Music Awards nomination. In 2011, he performed on the intro to Pharoahe Monch's album W.A.R.. In the following year, he co-directed and performed in the Mumford & Sons music video for Lover of the Light. In 2014, he produced K. Michelle's The Rebellious Soul Musical which debuted on VH1 on the 19th of August 2014. In May, Elba featured on Mr Hudson's single Step Into the Shadows. Mr Hudson also produced his album Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela, released in November 2014. He also featured on the remix of the Ghanaian music group, VVIP's single Selfie together with Nigerian rapper Phyno released on the 12th of September 2014, and the video was released on YouTube on the 11th of April 2015. Elba performed a rap for the second album by Noel Fielding and Sergio Pizzorno's band, the Loose Tapestries. Elba also rapped in a remix of Skepta's Shutdown which was uploaded on the 1st of June 2015 to SoundCloud. On the 17th of August, a song was released on which Elba appeared on Nigerian singer D'banj's single Confidential, featuring Sierra Leonean rapper Shadow Boxer with the video uploaded to YouTube on the 20th of August. In November 2015, Elba opened for Madonna during her Rebel Heart Tour in Berlin, Germany. Elba is also featured on the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis album This Unruly Mess I've Made in 2016. He had the idea to develop the music from his album Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela into a show, which eventually resulted in a play called Tree that premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2019. However, authorship of the piece was disputed. On the 2nd of July 2019, The Guardian published a story describing how writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley said they had been removed from the production under what they described as questionable circumstances. The two writers had worked on the project for four years, following an approach from Elba asking them to develop his idea for a musical based on the album, on which Allen-Martin had also collaborated. Kwame Kwei-Armah joined the project in May 2018, and rewrote part of their material. At the time of its premiere, Tree was billed as created by Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Allen-Martin and Henley described their creative input as having included research and script-writing, as well as coming up with the play's title, and that after being removed, they were threatened with legal action if they went public with the story. Elba and Kwei-Armah both published rebuttals of what happened on Twitter. In July 2018, he launched his record label, 7Wallace Music. Elba performed at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2019. In 2019, he featured on the track Boasty by British grime artist Wiley. Elba also appears in the Boasty music video, delivering his verse in a mansion that includes a film set. In 2019, Elba appears on Taylor Swift's song London Boy from her seventh studio album Lover. The intro of the song samples a snippet from an interview by Elba. In April 2020, Elba collaborated with producer Jay Robinson on the track Know Yourself, released on Mau5trap. In 2020, after hearing Canadian R&B singer Emanuel's debut single Need You, Elba reached out with an idea for a music video compiled from clips of people sharing the things that were helping them cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Elba was credited as the creative director of the video and is being credited as an executive producer of Emanuel's forthcoming full-length debut album. On the 13th of February 2021, Elba performed a guest DJ mix for Mix Up on Australian national youth broadcaster Triple J. On the 22nd of September 2021, Elba announced he would be releasing a collaborative EP with Australian pop rock duo Lime Cordiale titled Cordi Elba, which was released on the 14th of January 2022. Elba also collaborated with Paul McCartney on a remix of his song Long Tailed Winter Bird. On the 8th of January 2024, Elba released the song Knives Down featuring UK rapper DB Maz as a part of his campaign against knife crime in the UK. With the release of the Phantom Liberty downloadable expansion for CD Projekt Red's 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077, two of three new radio stations introduced feature Elba. These are listed as 107.5 Darkstar Radio and 99.9 Impulse Radio. 107.5 Darkstar introduces two new tracks by Elba, Choke Hold and Roller Coaster, and 99.9 Impulse features an hour-long DJ set by Elba and Private Press. On the 24th of January 2024, Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit announced that Elba would be performing a back-to-back DJ set with veteran EDM DJ and producer Kevin Saunderson in 2024. In 2024, Idris began his own label Sound International inspired by his uncle's legendary 1980s London Sound System which had an open-minded approach to music; the label aims to showcase diverse house music talent from around the world, with a goal to sign records from every country, highlighting the global unity and freedom within the house music genre.The Man Behind The Mask
Elba was married to Danish stylist Hanne Kim Nørgaard from 1999 until their divorce in 2003. He was then married to American real estate lawyer Sonya Nicole Hamlin for four months in 2006. He has a daughter with Nørgaard and a son with English makeup artist Naiyana Garth. He began a relationship with Canadian model and businesswoman Sabrina Dhowre in early 2017. They became engaged on the 10th of February 2018, during a screening of his film Yardie at an East London cinema, and were married on the 26th of April 2019 in Marrakesh. In October 2014, Elba presented the series Journey Dot Africa with Idris Elba on BBC Radio 2, exploring all types of African music. Elba was featured in various television commercials for Sky box-sets in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. He has collaborated with the UK parliament in their efforts to eradicate Ebola from West Africa, working alongside the UK Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening in 2014. Elba has created a collaboration with British fashion label Superdry, which launched at the end of November 2015. In January 2016, Elba addressed the UK parliament regarding the concern of the lack of diversity on screen. He said: Change is coming but it's taking its sweet time. He spoke about the lack of diversity regarding race, gender and sexuality. The Prince's Trust, a UK youth charity founded by Prince Charles in 1976, which Elba credits with helping begin his career, appointed him as their anti-crime ambassador in April 2009. He served on the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute between 2018 and 2022. He voiced support for a vote to remain in the European Union for the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. He is a campaigner against knife crime. Elba attended the UK government's inaugural knife crime summit in 2024, alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Elba emphasized the importance of action over mere discussion, advocating for a wide range of perspectives, including those of parents, youth workers, and law enforcement to address the issue. The summit aimed to unite various community groups, tech companies, sports organizations, and public services in an effort to halve knife crime over the next decade. Elba's Elba Hope Foundation was part of this coalition, which was also focusing on restricting online knife sales and tightening regulations on dangerous weapons. In 2025, he suggested banning ninja swords and removing the points from kitchen knives as possible solutions. Elba has said that he is spiritual but not religious. He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Arsenal FC. In January 2025, he revealed that he had stopped eating meat around six months prior. In 2015, as part of his Discovery Channel miniseries Idris Elba: No Limits, Elba broke the land speed record for the Pendine Sands Flying Mile course. He hosted The Best FIFA Football Awards at the London Palladium on the 23rd of October 2017, during which he took a selfie of the best team in the world which included Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar. In a 2019 podcast, Elba said that he is trying to quit social media because it made him depressed. Elba has discussed his experience with dyslexia making it difficult to read scripts, which led him to help develop a tool that allows for audio script reading. Elba was named Essences annual Sexiest Man of the Year in 2013 and People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2018. In October 2014, he was presented with a MOBO Inspiration Award. As of May 2019, his films have grossed over at the global box office, including over in North America, where he is one of the top 20 highest-grossing actors. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama. In 2017, he won the male title for the Rear of the Year award in Britain. In September 2018, he was one of 50 people named for making London awesome and helping to shape London's cultural landscape, as part of Time Outs 50th anniversary. In the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Powerlist, he was listed in the top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/Afro-Caribbean descent. In December 2022, Elba was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Ravensbourne University London in recognition of his work championing diversity within the creative industries and beyond. Elba was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to young people.The Producer And The Fighter
Elba signed a deal with Apple to produce original content through his Green Door Pictures production company. In February 2021, it was reported that the companies of Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre, would be developing an Afrofuturist adult animated sci-fi series, tentatively titled Dantai, for Crunchyroll, which would be about a time when biotech has created an ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots. In an April 2021 interview with Den of Geek, he said the series is mainly the brainchild of his wife, whom he described as a super geek when it comes to anime. In June 2024, Elba launched a new production company called 22Summers with former Pulse & BBC exec Diene Petterle. In August 2024, Elba received approval from the Tanzanian government to establish a film studio in Zanzibar. In September 2024, Elba joined Things Fall Apart as an actor and executive producer. In January 2025, Idris Elba premiered a documentary into knife and gang-related crimes in the United Kingdom. On the 11th of February 2025, it was announced that Elba invested in Kiro Race Co, a team competing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. Discovery Channel produced a documentary, Idris Elba: Fighter, chronicling Elba's twelve-month kickboxing and mixed martial arts training under Muay Thai coach Kieran Keddle, culminating in Elba's first professional kickboxing fight, and win, against Lionel Graves, a younger, more experienced Dutch opponent, at London's York Hall. Elba's kickboxing record shows a win against Lionel Graves on the 28th of August 2016 at Road to Glory UK in London, United Kingdom, by TKO in the first round, bringing his record to 1, 0. Elba made his directorial debut with Yardie in 2018. He also performs as a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis or Idris and as an R&B singer. He is a co-owner of the Formula E team, Kiro Race Co.Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on the 6th of September 1972 in the London Borough of Hackney, the only child to Winston Elba, a Sierra Leonean man who worked at the Ford Dagenham plant, and Eve, a Ghanaian woman. His parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London, but the young boy grew up navigating the streets of Hackney and East Ham with a singular focus that would eventually lead him to global stardom. He shortened his first name to Idris while attending school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, a decision that would set the trajectory for his entire life. Before he ever stepped onto a professional stage, Elba was already working odd jobs to support himself, including tyre-fitting, cold-calling, and night shifts at Ford Dagenham, mirroring the work of his father. He briefly attended Barking and Dagenham College but left school in 1988, winning a place in the National Youth Music Theatre after securing a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant. It was during this period that he began helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business, and within a year, he had started his own DJ company with some of his friends, performing under the nickname Big Driis in nightclubs during his adolescence. The Stage gave him his first big break after he saw an advertisement for a play, auditioned, and subsequently met his first agent while performing in the role, proving that his destiny was not written in the stars but forged in the gritty reality of London's working-class neighborhoods.
The Wire And The Wire
In 1994, Elba's first acting role appeared in Crimewatch murder reconstructions, but it was his 1995 appearance in a BBC children's drama called The Boot Street Band that marked his entry into scripted television. He landed his first significant role on a series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England, playing a central character named Charlie Carter, an African petty thief who lost his wife to childbirth and had to figure out how to support his newborn daughter. His first named role arrived earlier in 1995 when he was cast as a gigolo on the Sex episode of Absolutely Fabulous, followed by many supporting roles on British television including series such as The Bill and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. He joined the cast of the soap opera Family Affairs and went on to appear on the television serial Ultraviolet and later on Dangerfield. He decided to move to New York City soon afterward, returning to England occasionally for a television role, such as a part in one of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries. In 2001, Elba played Achilles in a stage production of Troilus and Cressida in New York City, and in 1997, he starred in the first two episodes of the second series Blood, Sweat and Tears in Silent Witness. After a supporting turn on a 2001 episode of Law & Order, Elba landed a starring role on the HBO drama series The Wire. From 2002 to 2004, Elba portrayed Stringer Bell in the series, perhaps his best-known role in the United States, a character that showcased his ability to play a ruthless and charismatic figure. He is also known for playing the character Aaron Smith in the 2003 Jamaican film, One Love, but it was Stringer Bell that truly established his reputation as a serious actor capable of carrying complex narratives.
Luther And The Long Walk
In 2005, he portrayed Captain Augustin Muganza in Sometimes in April, an HBO film about the Rwandan genocide, and appeared on the 2007 BET special Black Men: The Truth. He appeared as Charlie Gotso on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, filmed in Botswana, which premiered on the 23rd of March 2008, Easter Sunday, on BBC One, receiving a high 6.3 million viewers and 27% of the audience share. In January 2009, Variety reported that Elba would portray Charles Miner, a new rival to Dunder Mifflin regional manager Michael Scott for NBC's The Office, appearing in a six-episode story arc later in the 2009 season, as well as the season finale. In September 2009, he signed a deal to star as the lead role on the six-part BBC television series Luther, which aired in May 2010. He appeared on Showtime's The Big C in 2010, and at the 69th Golden Globe Awards telecast on the 15th of January 2012, Elba won Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role on the BBC crime thriller series Luther. In 2007, Elba signed on to play the lead role of the film Daddy's Little Girls, playing Monty, a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with an attorney helping him gain custody of his kids, and finds the relationship and his custody hopes threatened by the return of his former wife. He appeared in 28 Weeks Later and This Christmas, which brought in nearly $50 million at the box office in 2007. In 2008, he starred in the horror film Prom Night and the Guy Ritchie London gangster film RocknRolla. In 2009, he starred in the horror film The Unborn and in Obsessed, a thriller that had him cast opposite Beyoncé, the latter was a box office success, taking $29 million in its opening weekend. Elba's next film was Legacy, in which he portrayed a black ops soldier who returns to Brooklyn after a failed mission in Eastern Europe, where he has undertaken a journey looking for retribution. He starred in Dark Castle's adaptation of DC/Vertigo's The Losers, under the direction of Sylvain White, in the role of Roque, the second-in-command of a black-ops team out for revenge against a government that did them wrong. Filming took place in Puerto Rico, and the movie was released in April 2010. Elba appeared in the thriller Takers in 2010. He played Heimdall in Kenneth Branagh's film Thor, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. In August 2010, Elba signed up to portray the title character in a reboot of James Patterson's Alex Cross film franchise, but in February 2011, he was replaced by Tyler Perry. In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the sequel to Ghost Rider, Elba played an alcoholic warrior monk tasked with finding the title character. In his first video game appearance, Elba voiced the character Truck in the 2011 game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In February 2012, Elba confirmed that he would portray Nelson Mandela in the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which is based on his autobiography. As part of his preparation for the role, Elba spent a night locked in a cell alone on Robben Island, where Mandela had been imprisoned. His performance earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor , Motion Picture Drama. In June 2012, Elba portrayed the role of Captain Janek in Ridley Scott's Prometheus. He joined the cast of the film Pacific Rim in the role of Stacker Pentecost. He reprised his role as Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World in 2013. In January 2014, he confirmed that he would be starring in a film adaptation of Luther. In 2014, he starred in No Good Deed as a vengeful psychopathic serial killer.
The Voice Of Heroes
In 2015, Elba appeared as Heimdall in the superhero blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron, directed by Joss Whedon. Elba also starred alongside Abraham Attah in the film Beasts of No Nation, which premiered in select theatres and on Netflix. He earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, as well as a BAFTA Award nomination for Supporting Actor in the Film category. In 2016, he had several voice roles: the cape buffalo chief of police, Chief Bogo, in Disney's Zootopia, alongside Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman; villainous tiger Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, a live-action adaptation of the animated 1967 film of the same name, directed by Jon Favreau; and sea lion Fluke in Pixar's Finding Dory, alongside Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks in Finding Nemo. Also that year, he played the main antagonist, Krall, in the sequel Star Trek Beyond. In 2017, he played Roland Deschain in the Stephen King film adaptation The Dark Tower, starred in The Mountain Between Us and Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut Molly's Game, alongside Jessica Chastain. In April 2018, it was announced that Elba was cast as Charlie in the Netflix comedy series, Turn Up Charlie, which premiered on the 15th of March 2019 and was cancelled after one season. He also created and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy In the Long Run. In 2019, Elba starred as the villain in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a spin-off of Fast & Furious franchise, and played Macavity in Tom Hooper's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats. In 2021, Elba portrayed mercenary Robert Milton DuBois / Bloodsport in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. In 2022, Elba was the voice of Knuckles the Echidna in the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog which is itself based on the franchise of the same name. He reprised the role in a self-titled solo series for Paramount+ and returned for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, both in 2024. Elba provided voice-acting and his likeness to the character Solomon Reed in Phantom Liberty, a 2023 downloadable expansion for CD Projekt Red's 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077. In 2025, he played both the prime minister of the United Kingdom in Heads of State, and the president of the United States in A House of Dynamite. On the 22nd of November 2024, Deadline announced he was cast as Duncan, Man-at-Arms in Amazon Prime's movie Masters of the Universe.
The Sound Of The City
Elba has appeared in music videos for Fat Joe in 2002, Angie Stone in 2004 and rapper Giggs in 2010. In 2006, he recorded the four-song EP Big Man for Hevlar Records. He co-produced and performed on the intro to Jay-Z's album American Gangster in 2007. He DJed at the 2007 NBA All-Star parties at The Venetian and Ice House Lounge in Las Vegas. In July 2009, Elba was the DJ for BET's current series Rising Icons. He announced the release of his first single Please Be True. In the August 2009 issue of Essence, he announced the title of his six-song EP as Kings Among Kings. He released his EP High Class Problems Vol. 1 in the United Kingdom in February 2010, for which he has won many prizes, including a Billboard Music Awards nomination. In 2011, he performed on the intro to Pharoahe Monch's album W.A.R.. In the following year, he co-directed and performed in the Mumford & Sons music video for Lover of the Light. In 2014, he produced K. Michelle's The Rebellious Soul Musical which debuted on VH1 on the 19th of August 2014. In May, Elba featured on Mr Hudson's single Step Into the Shadows. Mr Hudson also produced his album Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela, released in November 2014. He also featured on the remix of the Ghanaian music group, VVIP's single Selfie together with Nigerian rapper Phyno released on the 12th of September 2014, and the video was released on YouTube on the 11th of April 2015. Elba performed a rap for the second album by Noel Fielding and Sergio Pizzorno's band, the Loose Tapestries. Elba also rapped in a remix of Skepta's Shutdown which was uploaded on the 1st of June 2015 to SoundCloud. On the 17th of August, a song was released on which Elba appeared on Nigerian singer D'banj's single Confidential, featuring Sierra Leonean rapper Shadow Boxer with the video uploaded to YouTube on the 20th of August. In November 2015, Elba opened for Madonna during her Rebel Heart Tour in Berlin, Germany. Elba is also featured on the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis album This Unruly Mess I've Made in 2016. He had the idea to develop the music from his album Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela into a show, which eventually resulted in a play called Tree that premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2019. However, authorship of the piece was disputed. On the 2nd of July 2019, The Guardian published a story describing how writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley said they had been removed from the production under what they described as questionable circumstances. The two writers had worked on the project for four years, following an approach from Elba asking them to develop his idea for a musical based on the album, on which Allen-Martin had also collaborated. Kwame Kwei-Armah joined the project in May 2018, and rewrote part of their material. At the time of its premiere, Tree was billed as created by Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Allen-Martin and Henley described their creative input as having included research and script-writing, as well as coming up with the play's title, and that after being removed, they were threatened with legal action if they went public with the story. Elba and Kwei-Armah both published rebuttals of what happened on Twitter. In July 2018, he launched his record label, 7Wallace Music. Elba performed at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2019. In 2019, he featured on the track Boasty by British grime artist Wiley. Elba also appears in the Boasty music video, delivering his verse in a mansion that includes a film set. In 2019, Elba appears on Taylor Swift's song London Boy from her seventh studio album Lover. The intro of the song samples a snippet from an interview by Elba. In April 2020, Elba collaborated with producer Jay Robinson on the track Know Yourself, released on Mau5trap. In 2020, after hearing Canadian R&B singer Emanuel's debut single Need You, Elba reached out with an idea for a music video compiled from clips of people sharing the things that were helping them cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Elba was credited as the creative director of the video and is being credited as an executive producer of Emanuel's forthcoming full-length debut album. On the 13th of February 2021, Elba performed a guest DJ mix for Mix Up on Australian national youth broadcaster Triple J. On the 22nd of September 2021, Elba announced he would be releasing a collaborative EP with Australian pop rock duo Lime Cordiale titled Cordi Elba, which was released on the 14th of January 2022. Elba also collaborated with Paul McCartney on a remix of his song Long Tailed Winter Bird. On the 8th of January 2024, Elba released the song Knives Down featuring UK rapper DB Maz as a part of his campaign against knife crime in the UK. With the release of the Phantom Liberty downloadable expansion for CD Projekt Red's 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077, two of three new radio stations introduced feature Elba. These are listed as 107.5 Darkstar Radio and 99.9 Impulse Radio. 107.5 Darkstar introduces two new tracks by Elba, Choke Hold and Roller Coaster, and 99.9 Impulse features an hour-long DJ set by Elba and Private Press. On the 24th of January 2024, Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit announced that Elba would be performing a back-to-back DJ set with veteran EDM DJ and producer Kevin Saunderson in 2024. In 2024, Idris began his own label Sound International inspired by his uncle's legendary 1980s London Sound System which had an open-minded approach to music; the label aims to showcase diverse house music talent from around the world, with a goal to sign records from every country, highlighting the global unity and freedom within the house music genre.
The Man Behind The Mask
Elba was married to Danish stylist Hanne Kim Nørgaard from 1999 until their divorce in 2003. He was then married to American real estate lawyer Sonya Nicole Hamlin for four months in 2006. He has a daughter with Nørgaard and a son with English makeup artist Naiyana Garth. He began a relationship with Canadian model and businesswoman Sabrina Dhowre in early 2017. They became engaged on the 10th of February 2018, during a screening of his film Yardie at an East London cinema, and were married on the 26th of April 2019 in Marrakesh. In October 2014, Elba presented the series Journey Dot Africa with Idris Elba on BBC Radio 2, exploring all types of African music. Elba was featured in various television commercials for Sky box-sets in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. He has collaborated with the UK parliament in their efforts to eradicate Ebola from West Africa, working alongside the UK Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening in 2014. Elba has created a collaboration with British fashion label Superdry, which launched at the end of November 2015. In January 2016, Elba addressed the UK parliament regarding the concern of the lack of diversity on screen. He said: Change is coming but it's taking its sweet time. He spoke about the lack of diversity regarding race, gender and sexuality. The Prince's Trust, a UK youth charity founded by Prince Charles in 1976, which Elba credits with helping begin his career, appointed him as their anti-crime ambassador in April 2009. He served on the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute between 2018 and 2022. He voiced support for a vote to remain in the European Union for the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. He is a campaigner against knife crime. Elba attended the UK government's inaugural knife crime summit in 2024, alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Elba emphasized the importance of action over mere discussion, advocating for a wide range of perspectives, including those of parents, youth workers, and law enforcement to address the issue. The summit aimed to unite various community groups, tech companies, sports organizations, and public services in an effort to halve knife crime over the next decade. Elba's Elba Hope Foundation was part of this coalition, which was also focusing on restricting online knife sales and tightening regulations on dangerous weapons. In 2025, he suggested banning ninja swords and removing the points from kitchen knives as possible solutions. Elba has said that he is spiritual but not religious. He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Arsenal FC. In January 2025, he revealed that he had stopped eating meat around six months prior. In 2015, as part of his Discovery Channel miniseries Idris Elba: No Limits, Elba broke the land speed record for the Pendine Sands Flying Mile course. He hosted The Best FIFA Football Awards at the London Palladium on the 23rd of October 2017, during which he took a selfie of the best team in the world which included Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar. In a 2019 podcast, Elba said that he is trying to quit social media because it made him depressed. Elba has discussed his experience with dyslexia making it difficult to read scripts, which led him to help develop a tool that allows for audio script reading. Elba was named Essences annual Sexiest Man of the Year in 2013 and People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2018. In October 2014, he was presented with a MOBO Inspiration Award. As of May 2019, his films have grossed over at the global box office, including over in North America, where he is one of the top 20 highest-grossing actors. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to drama. In 2017, he won the male title for the Rear of the Year award in Britain. In September 2018, he was one of 50 people named for making London awesome and helping to shape London's cultural landscape, as part of Time Outs 50th anniversary. In the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Powerlist, he was listed in the top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/Afro-Caribbean descent. In December 2022, Elba was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Ravensbourne University London in recognition of his work championing diversity within the creative industries and beyond. Elba was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to young people.
The Producer And The Fighter
Elba signed a deal with Apple to produce original content through his Green Door Pictures production company. In February 2021, it was reported that the companies of Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre, would be developing an Afrofuturist adult animated sci-fi series, tentatively titled Dantai, for Crunchyroll, which would be about a time when biotech has created an ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots. In an April 2021 interview with Den of Geek, he said the series is mainly the brainchild of his wife, whom he described as a super geek when it comes to anime. In June 2024, Elba launched a new production company called 22Summers with former Pulse & BBC exec Diene Petterle. In August 2024, Elba received approval from the Tanzanian government to establish a film studio in Zanzibar. In September 2024, Elba joined Things Fall Apart as an actor and executive producer. In January 2025, Idris Elba premiered a documentary into knife and gang-related crimes in the United Kingdom. On the 11th of February 2025, it was announced that Elba invested in Kiro Race Co, a team competing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. Discovery Channel produced a documentary, Idris Elba: Fighter, chronicling Elba's twelve-month kickboxing and mixed martial arts training under Muay Thai coach Kieran Keddle, culminating in Elba's first professional kickboxing fight, and win, against Lionel Graves, a younger, more experienced Dutch opponent, at London's York Hall. Elba's kickboxing record shows a win against Lionel Graves on the 28th of August 2016 at Road to Glory UK in London, United Kingdom, by TKO in the first round, bringing his record to 1, 0. Elba made his directorial debut with Yardie in 2018. He also performs as a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis or Idris and as an R&B singer. He is a co-owner of the Formula E team, Kiro Race Co.