Idris Elba :
Hackney to Hollywood

Idris Elba got his first acting break as a young boy in Hackney and after some mesmerising, high profile screen performances, is now touted to be the next James Bond. With acting credits as long as they are varied (and a parallel musical career), Elba is hot, hot property in both London and LA. Isabel Appio tracked the busy man down for a special BHM interview.

Idris Elba has come a long, long way from his first career break as a backstage hand in a local East End production of Jack and the Beanstalk, LA is his home now, and his acting talent has earned him equal acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. He makes that elusive USA/UK crossover look easy - a man as comfortable in Canning Town as he is in Tinsel Town.

The young Idris took to acting in his early teens and, with a list of school productions behind him, he won a Prince’s Trust grant to the National Youth Music Theatre. Aged 16, a passion to succeed meant he snapped up the chance to work night shifts at Ford to help pay his way through his theatre studies.

By his early 20s he had appeared in a variety of television and theatre roles including Absolutely Fabulous and Family Affairs. But the pickings for young, black actors in the UK were slim and in his mid-20s he uprooted and moved to New York in search of more challenging roles.

In 2002 (perfecting an American accent) he landed a key role in the hit USA series The Wire. His portrayal of Stringer Bell, the drug dealer with big vision and an even bigger plan - to wield real political power - won him instant international respect and praise. Other pivotal casting moments include co-lead alongside Beyonce in Obsessed (2009), a Fatal Attraction-like thriller and a lead part as the boss in USA version of The Office. Aged 38, Elba can now call his own shots when it comes to casting and the word is already marking him as the next James Bond.

An equally prolific musician, producer and singer, he is yet to fully expose the world to his musical talent. He’s been DJ-ing “East London Underground” since his Hackney days, having grown up listening to his father’s American soul records and helping his uncle in his wedding DJ business. DJ Big Driis has now shared studio space with the best of them, including Sean Combs, Ludacris and Jay-Z - whose 2008 album American Gangster features a spoken intro by Elba.

No stranger to compliments, Essence magazine recently voted him one of the “Top 10 hottest Men on the Planet” and the African American glitterati have rapidly embraced him as one of their own.

Familywise, born of a Ghanaian mother and Sierra Leonean father, Elba was married and divorced in his mid-twenties, (and according to the gossip columns is “dating”. We leave it there. The guy likes his privacy). He has a young daughter in the States by his ex-wife Liberian actress Dormowa Sherman.

Elba is back in London for October for the premier of his independent film, Legacy, showing at the Raindance Festival. It’s a psyclogical thriller about a former black-ops soldier struggling to overcome his demons while caught up in paranoia-inducing political intrigue.
(see www.whatismylegacy.net for more info and screening details)

Elba’s next immediate move is a new series of Luther - the compelling BBC detective series and, judging by his past form he need only to sit back and wait for the offers to flow in.

Idris Elba on……
Most significant career break?
First career break? I was asked to be a backstage hand aged 16 years old - it was when Danny Baker was starring in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Barking Theatre, that was my career break. The next was getting on to a performing arts course at the National Youth Music Theatre, and the third biggest, was I guess The Wire, much later, which gave me my biggest career break.

Hackney or LA?
I live in LA but I would consider moving my business to East London, my whole production side the music, the movies set up. It’s a great place for inspiration as an artist.

African Experience
I have West African parents. Unfortunately and embarrassingly I have not been to Ghana or Sierra Leone where my parents are from. I have been to Rwanda, Congo, South Africa and Botswana. My experience of Africa so far is one of awe and I can’t wait to go where my parents are from, which will happen very soon.

Musical Ambitions
I have put out a couple of EPs and one day I do definitely aspire putting out a full length album.
It’s a lifelong ambition. There are other things I do within the arts which I havn’t exposed yet. I was one of those kids when it came to arts I could do everything pretty well - music, photography, writing.

Most admired figure
I went to the World Cup and I got a chance to revisit Mandela’s history and what he stood up for and achieved as an activist is amazing. I take my hat off to him this Black History Month.

“Voted: One of the Top 10 Hottest Men on the Planet”. Any Comment?
No comment. There are millions of human beings on this plant so it is impossible to judge!

New BBC series of Luther?
Yes there will be a new series of Luther, a second instalment. I’m really excited about it and love playing him. I don’t write the script but I have some input into how Luther would react to certain situations and which direction he would go in.

The Award-winning film Legacy
I’m going to have a film called Legacy at Raindance film festival, London. It’s one of my most ambitious pieces of film as an actor and executive producer. It’s about a black soldier who comes back home to Brooklyn and holes himself up in a hotel room – you start to watch this character unravel in front of you. He has a brother in politics and a web of intrigue unfolds.

It was a great idea and written and directed by young film director - a London guy from Nigeria. He sent me this real passionate email. I just took to him and bosh, we raised the funding and we just made it.

Favourite acting roles
Sometimes in April as a soldier caught in Rwandan genocide and now Legacy.

Favourite motto?
Born alone, die alone.

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