Beloved actor Idris Elba born Idrissa Akuna Elba has his Sierra Leonean father Winston Elba and Ghanaian mother Eve Elba to thank for his good genes.
The pair’s marriage in Sierra Leone and subsequent relocation to the United Kingdom will see Idris birthed in the London Borough of Hackney on 6 Sept. 1972. As an only child, he had his raising in Hackney and East Ham.
In school at Canning Town, he would change his first name to “Idris.”
By 1986, he had begun helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business. Having had a pulse on things, he started his own DJing company with friends in a year going by DJ Big Driis.
Schools attended by Idris Elba
Barking and Dagenham College
The National Youth Theatre in London
Awards of Idris Elba
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
BET Award for Best Actor for Luther, Takers, The Losers (2010, 2011)
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Luther (2012)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Beasts of No Nation (2016)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for Luther (2016)
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for Beasts of No Nation (2016)
NME Award for Best Actor (2016)
Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television for Luther (2016)
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for The Jungle Book (2017)
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Thor: Ragnarok (2018)
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for Guerrilla and Luther (2011, 2014 and 2018)
British Academy Television Special Award (2020)
Gotham Independent Film Tribute Award for The Harder They Fall (2021)
Acting Credits of Idris Elba in Film and Series
Absolutely Fabulous
The Bill and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
Family Affairs
Ultraviolet
Dangerfield
Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Troilus and Cressida
HBO series The Wire (2002–2004)
Law & Order
Sometimes in April
2007 BET special Black Men: The Truth
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Turn Up Charlie
In the Long Run
Daddy’s Little Girls (2007)
28 Weeks Later (2007)
This Christmas (2007)
American Gangster (2007)
Prom Night (2008)
Rock n Rolla (2008)
The Unborn (2009)
Obsessed (2009)
The Big C (2010)
Legacy (2010)
The Losers
Takers (2010)
Luther (2010–2019)
Thor (2011)
In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Prometheus (2012)
Pacific Rim (2013)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
No Good Deed (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
The Cape Buffalo Chief of Police, Chief Bogo and Zootopia (2016)
The Dark Tower (2017)
Adaptation
The Mountain Between Us
Molly’s Game (2017)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Elba made his directorial debut in 2018 with an adaptation of the 1992 novel Yardie by Victor Headley.
Music and DJ Journey of Idris Elba
Recorded four-song EP Big Man for Hevlar Records (2006)
Elba co-produced and performed on the intro on Jay-Z’s album American Gangster (2007)
Was on DJing duty at the 2007 NBA All Star parties at The Venetian and Ice House Lounge in Las Vegas
DJ for BET’s current series Rising Icons (2009)
Six-song EP as Kings Among Kings (2009)
High Class Problems Vol. 1 EP in the United Kingdom in Feb. 2010
Performed on the intro to Pharoahe Monch’s album W.A.R. (2011)
Co-directed and performed in the Mumford & Sons music video for “Lover of the Light” (2012)
Produced K. Michelle’s “The Rebellious Soul Musical” (2014)
Idris Elba Presents mi Mandela album (2014)
Featured on remix of Ghanaian music group, VVIP’s single “Selfie” (2014)
Launched record label, “7Wallace Music” (2018)
Elba collaborated with producer Jay Robinson on the track “Know Yourself” released April 2020
Collaborative EP with Australian pop rock duo Lime Cordiale titled “Cordi Elba” released on Jan. 14, 2022
Idris Elba has 2 Children
A product of Idris Elba and first marriage to Kim Norgaard, Isan Elba is an elder to Winston Elba, named after the actor’s late father who passed in 2013.
Isan birthed in 2002 has expressed interest in being a filmmaker rather than an actress. She noted in an interview she’s thrilled by the behind-the-scenes work and getting to be with producers.
Winston Elba is a 2014 product of Idris and Naiyana Garth; Idris’ ex-girlfriend. Winston is a British-American.
Idris Elba and Love Partners
Desired by thousands of women in various countries, Idris Elba is sure to break some hearts and has indeed parted ways with some women he was involved with.
His first wife was Hanne Kim Nørgaard whom he met in England as a makeup artist.
When they parted ways, Idris got married to Sonya Nicole Hamlin. Hamlin was a property lawyer but the marriage dissolved in a year.
Idris Elba’s love arrow then pierced Sabrina Dhowre, a former beauty queen and actress. Curiously the pair met in 2017 while Elba was filming The Mountain Between Us and have been together ever since. The couple married in Morocco on April 26, 2019.
Sabrina Dhowre Elba is a Somali-Canadian born in the US and raised in Canada. She is a Miss Vancouver (2014) queen and is currently a sought-after model. Although Elba is older than Sabrina by 16 years, the pair seem to be content with each other as a couple and business partners.
To bring diversity and inclusion in the UK film and TV industry, Idris Elba founded the Green Door Pictures production company which he leads us CEO.
It is home to talented film and TV series writers, actors, directors and producers who must bring the best of diverse storytelling to a global audience.
To those ends, Mr. Elba has been to Tanzania and Ghana with plans of establishing film studios.
