IDRIS ELBA STAR QUALITY

HE’S been a bouncer, a DJ, a rapper and a kickboxer. Oh, and he’s a very successful actor in the UK and the US and is regularly suggested as the next James Bond – although he denies he’d ever do it.

Idrissa Akuna Elba – aka Idris Elba – has the kind of star quality that wannabes would kill for. And, as he reaches his 50s, a timeless magnetism that means his star never looks like waning.

This year sees the return of one of his most iconic characters – dark detective Luther – when a new Luther film comes to Netflix. The tall, deep-voiced actor, however, has managed to resist being totally typecast.

His starry story started in the London borough of Hackney where he was the only child of Winston, originally from Sierra Leone and Eve, from Ghana.

Idris shortened his forename while still at school in Canning Town where he also first became involved in acting. He saw an advert in The Stage for a play, auditioned and later met his first agent while performing the role.

In 1986 he started helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business and within a year had his own DJ company with some friends.

He won a place at the National Youth Music Theatre after receiving a £1,500 Prince’s Trust grant. Later, between roles in his early career, he worked in various jobs including tyre-fitting, cold-calling and night-shifts at Ford Dagenham.

He worked in nightclubs under the DJ nickname Big Driis but in his early 20s began auditioning for TV roles. His first acting role was in a murder reconstructions for Crimewatch and in 1994 he appeared in a BBC children’s drama called The Boot Street Band.

The following year, he landed his first significant role on medical drama series Bramwell, set in 1890s England. Then he was cast as a gigolo in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, heralding many supporting roles in British TV including The Bill, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Dangerfield.

Idris decided, however, to move to New York City, returning to England occasionally for TV roles. In 2001 he played Achilles in a stage production of Troilus and Cressida in NYC.

After being in a supporting role in an episode of Law & Order, Idris won a starring role on the 2002 HBO drama series The Wire. This proved an important step as he appeared in this popular series until 2004 as Russell “Stringer” Bell, giving him his best-known role in America.

In 2005, he appeared in HBO film Sometimes in April about the Rwandan genocide and in a 2007 special Black Men: The Truth. He was in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, filmed in Botswana – a series which premiered in 2008 on BBC One and attracted 6.3 million viewers.

In 2009, though, he signed a deal to star in the lead role in the six-part BBC TV series Luther. This aired in May, 2010, and the compelling detective series immediately captured viewers’ imagination. At the 2012 Golden Globes awards, it earned him Best Actor in a Series.

Alongside his TV career, however, he was carving out a very solid career in films. In 2007, he played the lead role in Daddy’s Little Girls as a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with an attorney helping him gain custody of his children.

The same year, he appeared in 28 Weeks Later and This Christmas and the following year in horror film Prom Night and the Guy Ritchie London gangster movie RocknRolla.

In 2009, he starred in horror film The Unborn and in thriller Obsessed, opposite Beyonce, in a box-office success earning $29 million on its opening weekend.

Idris then played a black ops soldier in Legacy and another in thriller Takers before appearing in Kenneth Branagh’s film Thor based on the Marvel Comics’ superhero.

In 2012, Idris gave an impressive performance as Nelson Mandela in the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom based on the African leader’s autobiography.

As part of his preparation for the role he spent a night locked in a cell alone on Robben Island where Mandela had been imprisoned. His subsequent performance earned him a Golden Globes’ nomination.

The same year, he played Captain Janek in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and in 2013 joined the cast of futuristic Pacific Rim.

It was back to mingling with superheroes when he reprised his role in Thor: The Dark World in 2013 then played a vengeful psychopathic serial killer in No Good Deed in 2014.

In 2015 he was in the superhero blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. Several voice roles followed: in Disney’s Zootopia, as villainous tiger Shere Khan in The Jungle Book and as sea lion Fluke in Pixar’s Finding Dory.

There’s no doubt Idris plays an excellent villain, showcased next in the Fast & Furious franchise spin-off Hobbs & Shaw but he feels equally at home in other genres – he played Macavity in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats.

Music has plainly been important in his own life. He has appeared in music videos, featured on various singles and performed raps. He even launched his own record label, 7Wallace Music.

Away from the small and large screens, he collaborated with the UK Parliament in their efforts to eradicate ebola from West Africa and in 2016 addressed Parliament about the lack of diversity onscreen in race, gender and sexuality. He said:

“Change is coming but it’s taking its sweet time.”

His love of martial arts resulted in a documentary Idris Elba: Fighter, chronicling his 12-month kickboxing and mixed martial arts training.

In his personal life, he has been married three times and has two children. He has stated that he is spiritual but not religious. He also loves sport and is an avid Arsenal supporter.

In 2016, he was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama.

He says he would “never be fearful of any character” and his long and successful career so far ably demonstrates just that.