Quote

I'm rebelling against being handed a career, like, 'You're the next this you're the next that.' I'm not the next anything, I'm the first me. I can't be myself, I can't just be Idris Elba. But that's just the nature of the business.

Idris Elba

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Idris Elba
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: September 6
Actor
Composer
Disc Jockey
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Record Producer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Television Producer
Hackney
Big Driis the Londoner
DJ Big Driis
Idrissa Akuna Elba Obe
Anything
Idris
Firsts
Rebelling
First
Handed
Like
Career
Careers
Business
Next
Nature
Elba

More quotes by Idris Elba

Image
Being able to work with Ridley Scott on this film is like being able to play on the Olympic team for actors.
Idris Elba
Image
There's the argument that you can relate to someone who's completely unrelatable. In the way that a director shows you his imagination on a film, then I get to show you my imagination in a big dumb character.
Idris Elba
Image
I wasn't bad at school, but I was never a bookworm.
Idris Elba
Image
I was always a real athletic kid. Then when I got older, I just figured it was part of life to keep training.
Idris Elba
Image
What really excites me in a project is when it goes in a way you haven't been before.
Idris Elba
Image
I find that a lot of actors who are good and open to challenges have lived a full life. When you walk into an audition, you have more to say for yourself because you come from the real world. It's more enticing for directors, I think.
Idris Elba
Image
I knew that if I wanted to be all I could be, I would have to go to the US. It took three years to get the accent right.
Idris Elba
Image
Yeah, I know, any time you hear an actor say, 'I do music', you cringe. But I want to be gradual with my music. I want to earn my stripes.
Idris Elba
Image
In some countries, no one knows who Idris Elba is.
Idris Elba
Image
It was deeply important for me to understand where Mandela came from. Because we know where he was going, and that's a famous story, but who was he? Where did he come from? What was his upbringing?
Idris Elba
Image
I watch my daughter wanting to be like other kids and getting upset that she's not. But I always try and instill in her the idea that she's perfect as she is.
Idris Elba
Image
It could be Grammy night, Oscar night, whatever - I don't feel the pressure to be there.
Idris Elba
Image
I was cast in 'Thor' and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good.
Idris Elba
Image
What an honor it was to step into the shoes of Nelson Mandela and portray a man who defied odds, broke down barriers, and championed human rights before the eyes of the world.
Idris Elba
Image
The one album I can't live without is called 'Cumbolo' by a band called Culture. Every song on their album is deep, but there's one in particular called 'This Train.' I have a tattoo of the lyrics on my left arm.
Idris Elba
Image
I come from an era, in my world, where you just had to define yourself as who you are and what you do. I happen to be an actor. I happen to be someone that loves to act, that also likes music, that also likes to speak, and that also has an opinion.
Idris Elba
Image
As an actor, you're trained to do the right thing, be politically correct, say your lines, say the right thing about the people you're working with...
Idris Elba
Image
You’re directing a movie, but you are at the head of a ship of people, a whole fleet of people. And being able to manage that - being able to handle yourself as a director being a leader - that’s massively important.
Idris Elba
Image
The adrenaline feeling of jumping out of cliffs and bikes and all of that is very specific to the film. In 'Pac Rim' I'm not doing that so much. There isn't that touch stonework for me in it, but there is a lot of action.
Idris Elba
Image
In 'Pacific Rim' I had to have a haircut I wouldn't usually rock. However, the moustache I had in the film - that might have to come out again. It was a good moustache. Good times.
Idris Elba