Award-winning actor Idris Elba is rumored to be the in the running as the new James Bond. But he was only able to learn how to act as a 16 year-old at London’s National Youth Theatre thanks to a $2,000 grant from the Prince’s Trust, a charity co-founded by Prince Charles 40 years ago to help young people.
Now Elba has the Prince’s trust. He has struck up an unlikely friendship with the man he refers to as “good old Prince Charles.” Recalling working at a Ford car production factory — the same job his father used to do — to the heir to the British throne, he joked, “We both fell into the same line of work as our parents did!”
Occupying the highest echelons of the British establishment is only one of the roles Elba, 43, now plays.
He is renowned for passionately immersing himself in his parts. After landing the role of Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, he begged to stay in the Robben Island jail (now a museum) where Mandela was imprisoned, in a bid to understand more about the late South African leader.
Thus Elba found himself incarcerated in the bowels of a deserted jail, lying on a narrow two-centimeter thick mat. It was Elba’s first major leading role, a turning point in his career, playing a part turned down by Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, uncertain that they could do justice to the man hailed as a hero to millions. Elba knew this might be his one shot at the big time: “Freedom only becomes sacred when you lose it,” he said afterwards.
The gamble paid off. Now, he now lives a luxurious lifestyle he never dared to dream existed. Elba’s immigrant parents, Eve and Winston, had sailed to in London in the late 1960s, desperate to escape a life of poverty and hardship in Sierra Leone. Winston was grateful to land a steady job at a Ford car production factory, vowing to work hard for fear he might end up with nothing again. His dearest wish was that his only son would follow in his footsteps and stay out of trouble.
But the far-right National Front party was gaining power in the 1980s, and the streets of Hackney were tough for black kids. Elba became a target for bullies and struggled to fit in. “I was a dreamer,” he recalled. “I didn’t see why I shouldn’t have equal standing.”
He could have easily taken the wrong path but was saved by his drama teacher Susan McPhee, who spotted his potential and arranged the Prince’s Trust grant for him to study at the National Youth Theatre. “As I got into my teens, the ambition to be the cool cat was bigger,” he said. “I discovered women loved me and I could have gone down a route that was not criminal but cutting corners. Instead I ended up in tights doing ballet at a performing arts course.”
Despite this, the training did not immediately lead to paid work and Winston was relieved when his son took a job on the production line. Just months later, however, Idris blew every penny he had on a $300 one-way ticket to New York. He checked into the YMCA and tried to perfect his American accent.
A short-lived marriage to Dormowa Sherman had fizzled out, and by 2006 Elba found himself homeless and alone. Selling drugs on the street and sleeping in his car, he even had a gun to his head while working as a nightclub doorman.
Unable to support his pregnant girlfriend, Hanne Norgaard, it was the toughest time in his life. Then came the call he had waited so long for. As Hanne went into labor, Elba was invited to audition for The Wire.
His accent was so convincing, producers had no idea he was British; and the role of Stringer Bell in David Simon’s HBO drama set him on the road to TV fame.
Without doubt, Idris Elba is a charmer, and his rise to the top was not without a degree of personal controversy. Shortly after production began on The Wire, Hanne moved out, taking their daughter to Atlanta. Elba still refuses to discuss a whirlwind Las Vegas wedding to Sonya Nicole Hamlin, which was annulled after just 24 hours in 2006.
Soon afterward, Elba fell for a pole dancer called Desiree Newberry and they set up home together in Miami. His work often kept them apart but when she gave birth to his son in 2010, he was overjoyed: “The celebration of having a son — from a man’s perspective it’s massive,” he gushed.
Yet returning to Miami weeks later, a humiliating and bitter betrayal lay in store when tests revealed that the baby was not in fact his after all. He said: “To be given that and then have it taken away so harshly was like taking a full on punch in the face.”
Fast forward to 2014 and Elba walked the red carpet at Golden Globes with his latest girlfriend, Naiyana Garth, revealing that he was about to become a dad once again.
His joy was soon shattered by the deaths of two of the greatest influences in his life — his father and Mandela, who actually passed away during the world premiere of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Within months of Naiyana giving birth, Elba moved out, having been linked to supermodel Naomi Campbell and rap artist K Michelle.
Despite the emotional turmoil, 2016 is most definitely shaping up to be Elba’s year. Cementing his ascent to the A-list, he will soon be seen in Star Trek: Beyond and is currently filming Thor: Ragnorak.
He voiced Shere Khan in Disney’s hit live action remake of The Jungle Book and made up for the Beasts of No Nation Oscar snub by receiving an Emmy nomination for his performance in BBC America’s crime drama Luther. He is also set to make his directorial debut later this year, helming London drug-trafficking drama Yardie.
Elba appeals to American audiences in a different way to Hugh Grant or Tom Hiddleston (his Thor co-star). His rugged street grit makes men want to be in his gang, while women seem to swoon at the mere mention of his name.
He was once overheard, over lunch in London’s Soho, being asked whether he realized he was having exactly the same giggling effect on the waitresses as he was on the waiters — both gay and straight. Elba replied with a wolfish grin: “I am aware.”
To his credit, Elba refuses to complain about the paparazzi attention and always seems to have a smile on his face. Dividing time between his son in London, his daughter in Atlanta, and his filming commitments in Hollywood, he also appeals to an edgier crowd by spending summers DJ-ing in Ibiza nightclubs.
.@Spotify crew, i’m adding tracks from my DJ sets to a #Hiatus Club playlist…
Listen here: https://t.co/QiCEdp5trt pic.twitter.com/G7q7RFINJJ— Idris Elba (@idriselba) June 2, 2016
Then there are the James Bond rumors. When Elba has made it clear the the black part, not the Bond part, that bothers him so much: “We don’t say ‘white Bond’ we just say ‘Bond’ so it suddenly becomes a black man.”
“I hate that phrase and it’s rumor that has gotten out of control basically, but that’s all it is,” he said. “I’m not the next anything, I’m the first me.”
In January, Idris addressed the issue of diversity in the media to the House of Commons, and warned that the lack of opportunity for black actors to land lead roles in the UK could result in yet more talent leaving for America.
“I wanted to achieve something that hadn’t been achieved,” he said. “I wanted to avoid stereotypes. But that meant this was gonna be a slow burn career. I’d love to be able to make films until the day I die.”
These days, ambitious kids growing up in Hackney dream of being Idris Elba.
Idris Elba: So, Now What? by Nadia Cohen is out now.