He’s 6ft 3, ruggedly handsome, irresistible to women and one of the world’s most in-demand actors - and the Bond rumours still won’t go away. But Idris Elba isn’t immune to the fear of middle-age spread.
“I’m insecure about getting old,” admits Elba, 43. “I’m losing my hair, getting loads of grey beard.” He grabs his stomach. “Carrying a bit of chub.”
Anyone else would describe his 'chub’ as 15 stone of muscle, but Elba remains bemused by his heralding as a sex symbol. “If I just looked at me I wouldn’t say, 'Oh he’s sexy!’ Maybe I’m not my own taste,” he says, laughing. “I’ve never really thought about it. What’s really interesting is the idea that the black man, so to speak, is never really described as sexy. Not ever. They just say, 'cool’ or 'athletic’. And so, I’ll go with that.”
Certainly, Elba’s star is far from fading. The Hackney-born actor’s famous scratchy voice can currently be heard as Shere Khan in the celebrated new reboot of The Jungle Book and he stars in Bastille Day, which opens this weekend. A Hundred Streets, with Gemma Arterton, and Star Trek Beyond are both out later this year, and Stephen King has just confirmed that Elba will star alongside Matthew McConaughey in the film adaptation of his book series The Dark Tower. He continues to attract audiences of millions in BBC One’s dark detective series Luther, he is a TV presenter, music producer and DJ - he is known as Driss on the decks - and has a clothing range with Superdry.
Acting remains his great passion, even though, thanks to his mild dyslexia, he can find certain lines hard to learn. “It is my absolute heartbeat,” says Elba, when we meet in a slick central London hotel. “I find it a fascinating life experience to be able to turn into someone else. I love it. I get paid very well, I get to see the world, I get to meet and work with great people.”
He’s dressed casually but immaculately in a sweater from his own range. It’s a struggle, it seems, to keep himself upright and much of our conversation is conducted with Elba semi-horizontal.
Though his current base is London, Elba leads a nomadic existence, with homes on both sides of the Atlantic. His romantic life isn’t entirely settled either. In February it was reported that he and Naiyana Garth, the mother of his two year old son Winston, had separated. Elba already has a daughter from his first marriage, and this week his second wife, an American lawyer, told how they had married spontaneously in 2006, only for the relationship to end weeks later.
Elba has described acting as “quite a selfish profession”, and admitted that his personal life has suffered because of it.
There’s no doubt that his success has been hard won. Born in London to immigrant parents, he recognises that his early life experiences made him "deeply" ambitious.
“My parents didn’t have much and I always wanted to be that kid that could have whatever he wanted,” he says.
They couldn’t afford to buy him the same trainers and jeans the other children wore. “I was like, 'Why?!’ Ok I’m going to put myself in a situation where I don’t ever have to say no to me or my children for anything I want.’”
He was an only child but wasn’t spoilt and learned how to look after himself. “I didn’t get any of that over-coddling. My mum is more on my back now as a grown up than she was when I was 10. It was more like: 'You get out there and defend yourself’. Now she’s like, 'Did you brush your teeth?’”
Elba studied performing arts at Barking College of Technology, trying his hand at ballet, modern tap and drama. In 2001 he moved to America in search of roles, with a partner who would become his first wife (they split when she was still pregnant with their daughter, Isan). Struggling to find his break, those early months were not easy. “My marriage was broken up,” he says. “And we were having a baby, so I had to vacate the home because it wasn’t a very good environment for her and I just ended up living in my van.” He doesn’t want to go into it now, but he has revealed before that he briefly dealt cannabis.
His daughter still lives in America and, despite being “very close”, he admits it’s “tough”. “I’m passionate about my children,” he says. “It’s the best gift you can have, as a parent watching your own seed grow.”
Isan was born on the day he was offered the part of Stringer Bell for The Wire - the role that would announce Elba to the world.
Famously, he had kept his American accent up throughout all the auditions, only letting on he was British when they gave him the part.
It was to be the launch pad for a gloriously varied career - Elba singles out playing Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom as a particular high, especially for his late father, who was born in Sierra Leone.
“He looked at me like 'What?! You?!” he recalls. “But his heart was so bursting with pride. As far as offering yourself as an actor, that was a stand out role for me.”
Eyebrows were raised when Elba wasn’t Oscar nominated for Mandela, and at this year’s ceremony, which was criticised for its lack of diversity, he was passed over again for his role in Beasts of No Nation, a film about child soldiers in Sierra Leone that premiered on Netflix (he was nominated for a Bafta and Golden Globe). “I made a film about people that lose their children and those children get thrown into war,” he says, when I ask about this. “Do you think I give a f*** if the Oscars give it a nomination or not? The nomination is in the fact that we got the film off the ground, we told the story. Not only that, Netflix bought it and a lot of people saw it.”
It’s impossible to resist asking about Bond, but Elba won’t play ball.
He has trained in Muay Thai and kick-boxing. He’d make a believable 007. “I do like fighting. That’s always been part of my make-up. I’m an only child so when my cousins would come round we were like, 'Right! Let’s fight!’ I’m not one to back down if there was a confrontation. I don’t like to get into confrontations but I give as good as I get.”
For all his success, though, he has a surprising admission to make. “I just wish that I could be happier. I have all these really great opportunities and things happen and sometimes...the cup is half empty.”
Perhaps it’s time for him to enjoy the fruits of his labour a little more. “As much as you work hard for something, the important things in life shouldn’t be ignored. If they are, then it just doesn’t feel as good.”
Written By Matthew Stadlen
Source:telegraph.co.uk
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