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Idris Elba

 
Black Biography: Idris Elba
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actor

Personal Information

Born on September 6, 1972, in England; children: one daughter.

Career

DJ, 1986-; actor, 1995-.

Life's Work

British actor Idris Elba is one of a number of foreign-born thespians who have begun landing impressive roles on American screens both large and small. Elba has made a name for himself in the United States for his compelling performance on the HBO series The Wire, which began its third season in 2004. He plays Stringer Bell, a drug kingpin, on the Baltimore-set drama, who dreams of becoming a legitimate business tycoon.

Born in 1972 in England, Elba gravitated toward a career in the entertainment business at an early age. He began helping an uncle with his wedding-DJ business at age 14, and within a year had started his own DJ company with some friends. He was working in nightclubs by the age of 19, but began auditioning for television parts in his early twenties. In 1995 he landed his first role on a British series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England. That same year he also appeared in an episode of the notorious comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, seen regularly in reruns on the BBC America cable channel. He took parts in a few television movies before winning the role of handsome heartthrob Tim Webster on the British nighttime soap opera Family Affairs in 1997. The show was set in Kent, England, and earned terrible ratings during the first season, but managed to revive its fortunes by having one entire family killed off in a barge accident. Elba was only on the show for its first year, but the exposure boosted his career immensely.

Elba went on to appear in a more established British television series, Dangerfield, in 1999 as a forensic scientist. Soon, however, he decided to move to New York City. "England is home, and I love it," he told Essence's Esther Armah about why he decided to move. "But England couldn't house my ambition." At first, roles for the British actor with a Cockney accent were hard to win, and he took work spinning records in clubs in the East Village and Alphabet City to make ends meet. He returned to England occasionally for a job, such as a part in one of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, a top-rated British crime series.

Elba's break in American television came when he landed a part on one of the top-rated American crime series, Law and Order, in 2001. He also appeared on the New York stage in the Shakespeare classic Troilus and Cressida that same year. The drama of ancient Greece is set during the Trojan War, and Elba was cast as Achilles, the once-powerful warrior now fallen from favor. "Elba, as Achilles, with an ever-present wine goblet in his hand and a controlling arm often around his doting companion, Patroclus, does have the swagger to convey both his physical prowess and his graceless egomania," noted a New York Times review of the play from Bruce Weber.

HBO producers then cast Elba in The Wire, a new series that debuted in 2002. The show was created by David Simon, a former Baltimore crime-beat reporter, and was marked by a gritty realism in its portrayal of the criminal underworld and the cops who fight it--and are sometimes lured into it by their own vices as well. Elba was cast as Russell "Stringer" Bell, an ambitious but ruthless drug dealer. Elba's character strives to make his mark when he emerges as the second-in-command for a local drug racketeer who is sent to prison. His on-screen nemesis is Dominic West as the conflicted Baltimore police detective Jimmy McNulty. Interestingly, West also hails from Britain and had to work to cover his accent with the appropriate Baltimore one, like Elba.

In an interview that appeared on HBO's official Web site for The Wire, Elba answered questions from viewers, including one about why he took the part of Bell. "Here was a chance to play a mountain of different roles molded into one," he reflected. "As a boy you dream of playing a gangster character who has all that power. Stringer is the embodiment of the powerful character who has successfully and charismatically eluded the police." Critics loved the dichotomies presented by the show's writers, some of whom were successful crime-novel writers before they joined The Wire team, such as Clockers' Richard Price and Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River. The New York Times critic Caryn James asserted as third season began that though the cops-and-robbers game may seem like an overdone genre, since its onset The Wire has consistently proved a cut above. "With its frank attention to race and class, its moral ambiguity and its unabashedly confusing plots that challenge viewers to keep up, The Wire has become one of the smartest, most ambitious shows on television," she noted. Ken Tucker, writing in Entertainment Weekly, also gave the show high marks, calling it a "hypnotically dense drama without pat answers."

Elba has appeared in a few feature films, among them Buffalo Soldiers in 2001 alongside Joaquin Phoenix. The film's negative depiction of American soldiers stationed in Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was deemed too politically insensitive, and it vanished quickly from theaters. Elba can also be seen in the occasional music video, including those from Fat Joe and Angie Stone, and still DJs under the name Big Dris. "I consider myself a blend DJ more than anything," he told the MTV Web site Mixtape Monday. "Like my mixtapes, the way I want to see them grow, I basically want to see if I can get my mixtapes to showcase new talent."

Elba has a young daughter, and cites Robert De Niro as his professional role model, especially in the 1983 dark farce, The King of Comedy. He was also slated to appear in a 2004 television movie about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,...Sometimes in April. He admitted that it seemed easier to win roles in American television, he said in the HBO.com interview, noting that in Britain "rarely do producers take a chance on unknown actors and I think it's for mostly economical reasons. When 25 [percent] of TV viewers are black and rest are white, they don't feel they need to write for black characters. The black audience in England is so much smaller than here so they don't think they'll get the big financial return with a black show."

Works

Selected works

    Films
    • Belle Maman, 1999.
    • Sorted, 2000.
    • Buffalo Soldiers, 2001.
    • Johnny Was, 2005.
    Television
    • Bramwell, 1995.
    • Family Affairs, 1997.
    • Law and Order, 2001.
    • The Wire, 2002.

    Further Reading

    Periodicals

    • Daily Variety, February 4, 2004, p. 24.
    • Entertainment Weekly, August 15, 2003, p. 14.
    • Essence, December 2003, p. 146; April 2004.
    • Mirror (London, England), May 9, 1997, p. 7.
    • New York Newsday, October 24, 2004.
    • New York Times, April 16, 2001; September 19, 2004, p. AR19.
    On-line
    • "HBO--The Wire: Interview," HBO.com, www.hbo.com/thewire/interviews/idris_elba.shtml (October 28, 2004).
    • "Mixtape Monday," MTV.com, www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/092704/ (October 28, 2004).

    — Carol Brennan

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    Actor: Idris Elba
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    Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
    • Born: Sep 06, 1972 in London, England
    • Occupation: Actor
    • Active: 2000s
    • Major Genres: Drama, Horror
    • Career Highlights: Sometimes in April, This Christmas, RocknRolla
    • First Major Screen Credit: One Love (2003)

    Biography

    As the child of a Sierra Leonean father and a Ghanian mother, Afro-British cinema and television actor Idris Elba built his reputation as a performer in sitcoms and cable dramas during the 1990s and early 2000s before segueing into Hollywood movies in 2005.

    Born in London on September 6, 1972, and raised in the Hackney borough of that city (in the northeast quadrant), Elba pursued acting as a high school student at the behest of a drama teacher. Although his film, television, and stage work officially commenced around 1992, Elba's premiere credited role arrived in 1995, with a supporting role on the episode of the farcical British series Absolutely Fabulous, entitled "Sex." Many supporting roles on British television followed, including such series as Bramwell, The Bill, Degrees of Error, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and The Governor. Elba grew deeply frustrated, however, over the seemingly irrepressible tendency of British casting directors to peg him in supporting roles. "Back in London," he later recalled, "I was always just going to be the best friend, or the crook or the detective on the side." When Elba could take no more of this, he immigrated to the United States. A couple of years of inactivity ensued, but after a supporting turn on a 2001 episode of Law & Order, Elba landed a starring role on a 2002 HBO cop drama The Wire.

    In that part -- Elba's best-known and highest-profiled to date -- he plays pusher "Stringer" Bell, the second in command to drug-dealing kingpin Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris). Elba immediately became notorious for daring to impart a pronounced level of affability to Stringer (despite the character's profession); as a result, the role attained widespread popularity with viewers and helped put the series on the map. Elba stayed on the series through its first three seasons.

    Elba then transitioned into big-screen roles; his most prominent turns included that of Rev. Frank, a Southern Baptist minister and gospel music hopeful threatened by the arrival of an old friend who challenges his pastoral position, in Rob Hardy's powerful spiritual drama The Gospel (2005); Augustin Muganza, a Hutu captain grappling with the 1994 Rwandan genocide in the mind-blowing HBO historical drama Sometimes in April (2005); and a scientist and partner of Hilary Swank's professional debunker of religious myths in Stephen Hopkins' gothic, biblically themed horror picture The Reaping (2007).

    In 2006, Elba also signed on as the lead of the seriocomedy Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls (2007), playing Monty, a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with a six-figure attorney (Gabrielle Union) and finds the relationship threatened by the re-arrival of his ex-wife. He also joined the supporting cast of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later, the horror-themed sequel to Danny Boyle's 2002 zombie picture 28 Days Later. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
    Filmography: Idris Elba
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    Idris Elba

    Elba at an American Music Awards after-party, November 2007
    Born Idrissa Akuna Elba
    6 September 1972 (1972-09-06) (age 37)
    Hackney, London, England, UK
    Other name(s) DJ Big Driis
    Big Driis the Londoner
    Occupation Actor
    Years active 1995–present

    Idrissa Akuna "Idris" Elba[1][2] (born 6 September 1972)[1] is a British television, theatre, and film actor who has starred in both British and American productions. Idris Elba grew up in Hackney, East London.[1] One of his first acting roles was in the soap opera Family Affairs.[3] He has worked in a variety of TV roles including Ultraviolet and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.[1] He is also known for playing Russell "Stringer" Bell, the drug dealer who aspired to become a high powered businessman, in HBO's The Wire.[4] Elba is also a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis / Big Driis the Londoner, and a hip-hop soul recording artist.[1]

    In 2009, Elba began playing a character in NBC's television hit series The Office. He was in six episodes playing Charles Miner, Michael Scott's new boss. In 2010 he will be seen in Dark Castle Entertainment's adaptation of DC/Vertigo’s The Losers under the direction of Sylvain White in the role of Roque, the second-in-command of a black-ops team out for revenge against a government that did them wrong as well as the thriller Takers starring Hayden Christensen, T.I., and Paul Walker. In September 2009, Elba inked a deal to star as the lead role in a 6-part BBC television show called Luther to air sometime in 2010.[5]

    Contents

    Early life

    Elba, an only child, was born Idrissa Akuna Elba, and shortened his first name at school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting.[2] His father is Sierra Leonean and his mother is Ghanaian.[1][2] Elba grew up in East Ham.[6] He began helping an uncle with his wedding-DJ business at age 14, and within a year had started his own DJ company with some friends.[3][7] He left school at 16 and won a place in the National Youth Music Theatre—thanks to a £1,500 Prince’s Trust grant – but then ended up having to do everything from tire-fitting to cold-call advertising sales to pay the rent between roles in Crimewatch murder reconstructions.[8] He was working in nightclubs under the DJ nickname Big Driis by the age of 19, but began auditioning for television parts in his early twenties.[3][7] After a stint in the National Youth Music Theatre, Elba worked the night shift at a Ford factory in Dagenham, London in 1989 and '90.[8] Elba started acting in secondary school (Trinity Comprehensive, Barking Road, Canning Town) with encouragement from his drama teacher (Susan McPhee).

    Television work

    Although his film, television, and stage work officially commenced around 1992, in 1995 he landed his first role on a series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England.[7] Elba's first credited role arrived in 1995, with a supporting role as a gigolo on the episode of the farcical series Absolutely Fabulous, entitled "Sex."[2][9] Many supporting roles on British television followed, including such series as The Bill, Degrees of Error, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and The Governor.[9] He then joined the cast of the soap opera Family Affairs and rose to prominence in the acclaimed serial Ultraviolet.[2] Elba went on to appear in a more established television series, Dangerfield, in 1999 as a forensic scientist.[7]

    Soon, however, he decided to move to New York City.[3][7] He returned to England occasionally for a job, such as a part in one of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, a top-rated crime series.[7] In 2001, Elba acted as Achilles in the stage play Troilus and Cressida in NYC.[3] After a supporting turn on a 2001 episode of Law & Order, Elba landed a starring role on a 2002 HBO cop drama, The Wire.[9] From 2002 to 2004, Elba portrayed Russell "Stringer" Bell in the HBO drama series, perhaps his best known role. In 2005, he also portrayed Captain Augustin Muganza in Sometimes in April, an HBO film about the Rwandan Genocide.[9] Elba also appeared on the 2007 Black Entertainment Television special Black Men:The Truth.[10] Elba also appeared in the role of Charlie Kgotso in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency opposite Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose, which filmed in Botswana.[11] The series premiered on 23 March 2008, Easter Sunday, on Britain's most popular TV channel, BBC One, receiving a high 6.3 million viewers and 27% of the audience share.[12]

    In January 2009, it was reported per Variety that Elba will portray Charles Miner, a new rival to Dunder Mifflin regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) for NBC's The Office.[11] Elba appeared in a six episode story arc later in the 2009 season as well as the season finale.[11] In September 2009, Elba inked a deal to star as the lead role in a 6-part BBC television show called Luther to air sometime in 2010.[5] In October 2009, it was announced that Elba will executive produce an untitled legal drama for NBC.[13]

    Film career

    2001–2007

    Elba appeared in Buffalo Soldiers in 2001 alongside Joaquin Phoenix but, the film's negative depiction of American soldiers stationed in Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was deemed too politically insensitive, and it vanished quickly from theaters.[7] In 2005, he portrayed Rev. Frank, a Southern Baptist minister and gospel music hopeful threatened by the arrival of an old friend who challenges his pastoral position, in Rob Hardy's spiritual drama The Gospel.[9] Elba portrayed a scientist and partner of Hilary Swank's professional debunker of religious myths in Stephen Hopkins' gothic, biblically themed 2007 horror picture The Reaping.[9]

    In 2006, Elba also signed on as the lead of the 2007 comedy Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, playing Monty, a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with a six-figure attorney (Gabrielle Union) and finds the relationship threatened by the re-arrival of his ex-wife.[9] He also joined the supporting cast of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later, the horror-themed sequel to Danny Boyle's 2002 zombie picture 28 Days Later also released in 2007.[9] He played "Tango" in the 2007 thriller American Gangster alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. He filmed This Christmas with Chris Brown, Mekhi Phifer, Loretta Devine and Regina King, which brought in nearly $50 million at the box office in 2007.[14][15]

    2008–present

    In 2008, Elba starred in the horror film Prom Night and Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla.[14] In January 2009, Elba starred in horror film The Unborn. He also starred in Obsessed, alongside Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter, as an asset manager who has a beautiful wife (Knowles) and thriving career until a temp office worker (Larter) begins stalking him.[16] Obsessed was a box office success after it took in $28 million in its opening weekend.[17] Obsessed was released on DVD on August 4, 2009[1].

    Elba will star in Dark Castle's adaptation of DC/Vertigo’s The Losers. He will be under the direction of Sylvain White in the role of Roque, the second-in-command of a black-ops team out for revenge against a government that did them wrong.[18] Filming will take place in Puerto Rico and the movie is scheduled for release in April 2010.[19] Elba will be seen in the 2010 thriller Takers also starring Hayden Christensen, T.I., and Paul Walker. Elba is currently filming the 2010 film Legacy. He posted a picture of himself from the set on his Twitter page.[20] In the film, Elba portrays a black ops soldier Malcolm who returns to Brooklyn, after a failed mission in Eastern Europe, where he undergoes a journey looking for retribution. [20]Elba has joined the cast of Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Thor film, in which he will play Heimdall.[21]

    Music career

    In 2001, Elba appeared in music videos for Fat Joe and Angie Stone.[7] In 2006, Elba recorded the four-song EP Big Man for Hevlar Records.[2] He also co-produced and performed on the intro to Jay-Z's 2007 album American Gangster.[22] He also DJ'd at the 2007 NBA All Star parties at the Venetian Hotel and Ice House Lounge in Las Vegas.[23] Elba also appeared in the Respect My Conglomerate[2] music video for Busta Rhymes's 2009 Back on My BS album. In July 2009, Elba was the DJ for BET's new series "Rising Icons".[24] Elba also announced the release of his first single "Please Be True."[25] Elba is currently working on his second EP, and plans to tour Europe in late 2009. [26] In the August 2009 issue of Essence magazine, Elba announced the name of his six-song EP as Kings Among Kings.[27]

    Personal life

    Elba was married to Dormowa Sherman,[6] a Liberian actress, writer and dancer.[28] The two have a daughter named Isan, born in 2002.[8] Though the two split four years after the birth of their child, it is rumored that they are still very good friends. They have been photographed out together on many occasions since the divorce, but neither care to comment on speculations.[23] Elba hangs out with rappers such as Diddy and Ludacris and spends much of his time in Atlanta where he owns a house and lives close to his daughter.[8] He is represented by ICM.[29] In April 2009, it was announced that Elba has become an Anti-Crime Ambassador.[30]

    Image

    He was featured as one of the "Ten Hottest Men on the Planet" in the April 2004 issue of Essence magazine and again in the November 2005 issue.[2] Idris was chosen as one of People Magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful People in the World, in May 2007.[31] Elba appeared on the August 2009 cover of Essence magazine.[27]

    Filmography

    Year Film/Television Role Notes and Awards
    1995 Absolutely Fabulous Gigolo Ep: Sex
    1997 Family Affairs Tim Webster
    1998 Ultraviolet Vaughan Rice
    1999 Belle maman Grégoire
    Dangerfield Matt Gregory
    2000 Sorted Jam
    In Defence PC Paul Fraser (segment 3)
    2001 Buffalo Soldiers Kimborough
    2002 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Robert Gabriel Ep: Payment in Blood
    The Wire Russell 'Stringer' Bell
    2003 One Love Aaron
    2005 Sometimes in April Augustin Muganza Nominated – Black Reel Awards Best Actor Network/Cable
    Nominated – Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Mini-Series/Television Movie
    The Gospel Charles Frank Nominated – Black Reel Awards Best Actor
    2007 Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls Monty James Nominated – BET Awards Best Actor
    The Reaping Ben
    28 Weeks Later General Stone
    American Gangster Tango Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture
    This Christmas Quentin Whitfield
    2008 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Charles Gotso
    Prom Night Detective Winn
    RocknRolla Mumbles
    The Human Contract Larry
    2009 The Unborn Arthur Wyndham
    The Office Charles Miner appearing in several season 5 episodes
    Obsessed Derek Charles
    2010 Takers Gordon Jennings
    Legacy Malcolm Gray
    The Losers Roque
    2011 Thor Heimdall

    Awards/nominations

    References

    1. ^ a b c d e f "Idris Elba Summary". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/idris-elba/person/44798/summary.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    2. ^ a b c d e f g "Idris Elba Biography". Celebrifi.com. http://www.celebrifi.com/celebrities/Idris-Elbal. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    3. ^ a b c d e Esther Addley (March 21, 2008). "He often has fewer lines than anyone else but you still feel as though he has the bigger part, because he is luminous". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/21/television. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    4. ^ "The Wire Cast and Crew: Idris Elba, Rusell "Stringer" Bell". Hbo.com. http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/actors/idris_elba.shtml. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    5. ^ a b "Wire actor Elba joins BBC drama". BBC.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8237924.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-07. 
    6. ^ a b Stuart Jeffries (May 9, 2009). "The Midas Touch". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/05/television-the-wire-idris-elba-obsessed. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
    7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Idris Elba". Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/idris-elba. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    8. ^ a b c d Chris Ayres (August 23, 2008). "Life as a RocknRolla: meet the crafty Cockney Idris Elba". Times Online. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4572201.ece. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    9. ^ a b c d e f g h "Biography". Moviefone.com. http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/idris-elba/2007953/biography. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    10. ^ "Idris Elba". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0252961/bio. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    11. ^ a b c "'Detective Agency' finds big auds". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982869.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    12. ^ "Minghella's last film watched by 6.3m". Guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/25/tvratings.television. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    13. ^ "Actor Idris Elbia developing NBC legal drama". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE59R0H320091028. Retrieved 2009-11-02. 
    14. ^ a b "Idris Elba and Columbus Short Interview, This Christmas". Moviesonline.ca. http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_13494.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    15. ^ "This Christmas". Thenumbers.com. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/TCHRS.php. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    16. ^ "Idris Elba And Beyonce To Play Married Couple In 'Obsessed'". Blackvoices.com. http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/03/06/idris-elba-and-beyonce-to-play-married-couple-in-obsessed/. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    17. ^ "Weekend Report: Moviegoers Fixate on ‘Obsessed’". Boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2581&p=.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 
    18. ^ "Idris Elba Confirmed For ‘The Losers,’ Zoe Saldana Playing Aisha". MTV.com. http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/04/02/idris-elba-confirmed-for-the-losers-zoe-saldana-playing-aisha/. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    19. ^ "“The Losers” Commences Production for Dark Castle Entertainment". Business Wire. July 29, 2009. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090729006447&newsLang=en. Retrieved 2009-08-05. 
    20. ^ a b "Idris Elba gets his kit off on set". UKPA. July 08, 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h_xUEDxNYFY1a0hUDXk---CCuTwQ. Retrieved 2009-07-21. 
    21. ^ "Idris Elba joins Marvel Studios' 'Thor'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2009-11-20. http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2009/11/idris-elba-joins-marvel-studios-thor-natalie-portman-kenneth-branagh.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 
    22. ^ "He often has fewer lines than anyone else but you still feel as though he has the bigger part, because he is luminous". Movietome.com. http://www.movietome.com/pages/tracking/index.php?sls_id=30960. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    23. ^ a b John McMurtrie (February 11, 2007). "Ties to 'Wire' cut - but new work calls". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/11/PKG4MNV3NJ1.DTL&hw=Elba&sn=001&sc=1000. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    24. ^ "Keri Hilson, The Dream and Idris Elba party with BET". S2Smagazine.com. http://www.s2smagazine.com/node/1381. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
    25. ^ Davina Morris (July 5, 2009). "Man of many talents - Actor Idris Elba returns to his first love, music, with the release of his new single". Jamaica Gleaner. http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090705/ent/ent5.html. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
    26. ^ "ELBA REFUSED TO ASK BEYONCE FOR HELP". Pr-inside.com. http://www.pr-inside.com/elba-refused-to-ask-beyonce-for-r1376206.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
    27. ^ a b Jeannine Amber (July 13, 2009). "ESSENCE August Issue: Sexy Talk With Idris Elba". Essence. http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/entertainment/articles/idris_elba_covers_essence. Retrieved 2009-08-14. 
    28. ^ "Elba says his ex is a beautiful person, but they wanted different things out of life. He does not rule out the possibility of a rekindled flame". Film Bytes. http://www.visimag.com/exclusive/fb374_dlg.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    29. ^ "Two actors get tough for 'The Losers' film". Hollywoodreporter.com. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7288557915e143d02da6c2b13a02d006. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    30. ^ "Idris Elba Becomes Anti Crime Ambassador". Looktothestars.com. http://www.looktothestars.org/news/2332-idris-elba-becomes-anit-crime-ambassador. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
    31. ^ "People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" issue". CBS.com. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/042507_people_list_facts.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 

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