Idris Elba started his career on British television with small bit roles before his breakout role as Stringer Bell in the critically acclaimed HBO television series The Wire.
This led to numerous roles in feature films including 28 Weeks Later; Guy Richies RocknRolla, Beasts of No Nation, and Pacific Rim, including his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and as Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor series.
Elba has also received numerous accolades for his role as DCI John Luther in the series Luther, including four Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two NAACP Image Awards.
Scroll through the gallery for stills from Idris Elbas Film and Television career.
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ULTRAVIOLET, 1998
Image Credit: Fox / Everett Collection Idris Elba, Joanna Going, Eric Thal, Spence Decker & Madchen Amick, (unaired pilot).
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THE GOSPEL, 2005
Image Credit: Sony Pictures/Everett Collection Idris Elba
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DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS, 2007
Image Credit: Lions Gate/courtesy Everett Collection A mechanic and his family are struggling to make ends meet with his ex-girlfriend and her drug dealing boyfriend He struggles to get custody of his children during the way he falls in love with his attorney.
Directed by Tyler Perry, starring Gabrielle Union & Idris Elba
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THIS CHRISTMAS, 2007
Image Credit: Screen Gems/Everett Collection A Christmastime drama centered around the Whitfield family’s first holiday together in four years.
Directed by Preston A. Whitmore, starring Idris Elba, Regina Kinga and Columbus Short.
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28 WEEKS LATER, 2007
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures/Everett Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.
Dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, starring Rose Byrne, Idris Elba, Robert Carlyle and Jeremy Renner.
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THE REAPING, 2007
Image Credit: Warner Brothers/Everett Collection A former Christian missionary, who specializes in debunking religious phenomena, investigates a small town which seems to be suffering from the 10 biblical plagues.
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, starring Idris Elba and Hilary Swank.
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ROCKNROLLA, 2008
Image Credit: Warner Bros./Everett Collection When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, drawing in the entire London underworld into a feeding frenzy at a time when the old criminal regime is losing turf to a wealthy foreign mob.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, starring Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Matthew King and Geoff Bell.
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PROM NIGHT, 2008
Image Credit: Screen Gems/courtesy Everett Collection Donna’s senior prom is supposed to be the best night of her life, though a sadistic killer from her past has different plans for her and her friends.
Directed by Nelson McCormick, starring Idris Elba, Brittany Snow and Scott Porter.
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OBSESSED, 2009
Image Credit: Screen Gems/courtesy Everett Collection A successful asset manager, who has just received a huge promotion, is blissfully happy in his career and in his marriage. But when a temp worker starts stalking him, all the things he’s worked so hard for are placed in jeopardy.
Directed by Steve Shill, starring Beyonce Knowles and Idris Elba.
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THE UNBORN, 2009
Image Credit: Rogue Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection A young woman fights the spirit that is slowly taking possession of her.
Directed by. David S. Goyer starring Ethan Cutkosky, Idris Elba and Gary Oldman.
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LEGACY, 2010
Image Credit: George Cameron Geddes/©Codeblack Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collec An AWOL Black Ops soldier mentally unravels when holed up in a Brooklyn motel room.
Directed by Eromose, starring Idris Elba and William Hope.
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THE LOSERS, 2010
Image Credit: John Bramley/Warner Bros./Everett Collection A CIA special forces team is betrayed and left for dead by their superiors, galvanizing them to mount an offensive on the CIA.
Directed by starring Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Columbus Short, Idris Elba and Oscar Jaenada.
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TAKERS, 2010
Image Credit: Suzanne Tenner/©Screen Gems/Everett Collection A group of bank robbers find their multi-million dollar plan interrupted by a hard-boiled detective.
Directed by John Luessenhop, starring Paul Walker, Idris Elba and Hayden Christensen
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LUTHER, 2010
Image Credit: Kerry Brown / BBC One / Everett Collection Ruth Wilson and Idris Elba, ‘Episode 1.2’, (Season 1, ep. 102, aired May 11, 2010), 2010-15.
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THOR, 2011
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Idris Elba.
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GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, 2012
Image Credit: Egon Endrenyi/Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection Johnny Blaze, tortured by the Ghost Rider’s curse, gets a chance of redemption through protecting the Devil’s son, whose father is pursuing him.
Directed by Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, starring Nicolas Cage and Idris Elba.
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PROMETHEUS, 2012
Image Credit: Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox Film/Everett Collection Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace.
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MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, 2013
Image Credit: Everett Collection A chronicle of Nelson Mandela’s life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
Directed by Justin Chadwick, starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris.
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PACIFIC RIM, 2013
Image Credit: Everett Warner Bros./Everett Collection As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Robert Kazinsky and Idris Elba.
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THOR: THE DARK WORLD, Idris Elba, 2013. ©Walt Disney Studios/courtesy Everett Collection
THOR: THE DARK WORLD, Idris Elba, 2013. ©Walt Disney Studios/courtesy Everett Collection
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NO GOOD DEED, 2014
Image Credit: Quantrell D. Colbert/Screen Gems/Everett Collection An unstable escaped convict terrorizes a woman who is alone with her two children.
Directed by Sam Miller, starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson.
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BEASTS OF NO NATION, 2015
Image Credit: Bleecker Street Media/Courtesy Everett Collection A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, starring Idris Elba, Abraham Attah and Emmanuel Affadzi.
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THE GUNMAN, 2015
Image Credit: Keith Bernstein/Open Road Films/Everett Collection A sniper on a mercenary assassination team kills the minister of mines of the Congo. Terrier’s successful kill shot forces him into hiding. Returning to the Congo years later, he becomes the target of a hit squad himself.
Directed by Pierre Morel, starring Sean Penn and Idris Elba.
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FINDING DORY, 2016
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /courtesy Everett Collection Friendly but forgetful blue tang Dory begins a search for her long-lost parents and everyone learns a few things about the real meaning of family along the way.
Starring Rudder (voice: Dominic West), Fluke (voice: Idris Elba), Marlin (voice: Albert Brooks), Nemo (voice: Hayden Rolence)
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THE JUNGLE BOOK, 2016
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Everett After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.
Directed by Jon Favreau and Idris Elba voiced the character of Shere Khan.
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100 STREETS, 2016
Image Credit: Samuel Goldwyn Films /courtesy Everett Collection Three people, three extraordinary stories. All lived out within a hundred London streets.
Directed by Jim O’Hanlon starring Idris Elba.
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STAR TREK BEYOND, 2016
Image Credit: Jaimie Trueblood / Paramount Pictures / Everett Collection The crew of the USS Enterprise explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy, who puts them, and everything the Federation stands for, to the test.
Idris Elba as Krall and director Justin Lin, on set.
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THE TAKE, (aka BASTILLE DAY),2016
Image Credit: Focus World /Courtesy Everett Collection A young pickpocket and an unruly CIA agent team up on an anti-terrorist mission in France.
Directed by James Watkins, starring Richard Madden and Idris Elba.
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ZOOTOPIA, 2016
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Everett Collection A young pickpocket and an unruly CIA agent team up on an anti-terrorist mission in France.
Chief Bogo (voice: Idris Elba) and Judy Hopps (voice: Ginnifer Goodwin)
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THE DARK TOWER, 2017
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection A boy haunted by visions of a dark tower from a parallel reality teams up with the tower’s disillusioned guardian to stop an evil warlock known as the Man in Black who plans to use the boy to destroy the tower and open the gates of Hell.
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey.
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THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US, 2017
Image Credit: Everett Collection Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness.
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba.
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MOLLY’S GAME, 2017
Image Credit: STX Entertainment / Everett Collection The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.
Directed by Aaron Sorkin, starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba.
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THOR: RAGNAROK, 2017
Image Credit: Jasin Boland/Marvel /Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Everett Collection Imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, Thor must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
Idris Elba as Heimdall.
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CATS, 2019
Image Credit: Universal Pictures / Everett Collection A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Idris Elba as Macavity and Francesca Hayward as Victoria.
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FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW, 2019
Image Credit: Daniel Smith / Universal / Everett Collection Directed by David Leitch, starring Idris Elba, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
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TURN UP CHARLIE, 2019
Image Credit: Nick Wall / ©Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection Piper Perabo and Idris Elba, (Season 1, ep. 108, aired March 15, 2019).
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CONCRETE COWBOY, 2019
Image Credit: Aaron Ricketts /Netflix / Everett Collection Sent to live with his estranged father for the summer, a rebellious teen finds kinship in a tight-knit Philadelphia community of Black cowboys.
Directed by Ricky Staub, starring Idris Elba and Caleb McLaughlin.
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THE HARDER THEY FALL, 2021
Image Credit: David Lee / Netflix / Everett Collection When an outlaw discovers his enemy is being released from prison, he reunites his gang to seek revenge.
Directed by Jeymes Samuel, starring, Regina King, Idris Elba and Lakeith Stanfield.
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THE SUICIDE SQUAD, 2021
Image Credit: Warner Bros. / Everett Collection Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X as they are dropped off at the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.
Directed by James Gunn, starring Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Reinaldo Faberlle as large guerrilla, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher II, King Shark (voice: Sylvester Stallone), Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker.
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BEAST, 2022
Image Credit: Lauren Mulligan / Universal Pictures / Everett Collection A father and his two teenage daughters find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on proving that the Savanna has but one apex predator.
Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, starring Idris Elba and Liyabuya Gongo and Martin Munro.
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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2, 2022
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection When the manic Dr Robotnik returns to Earth with a new ally, Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic and his new friend Tails is all that stands in their way.
Knuckles (voice: Idris Elba)
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THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING, 2022
Image Credit: MGM / Everett Collection A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.
Directed by George Miller, starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.
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LUTHER: THE FALLEN SUN, 2023
Image Credit: Netflix / Everett collection Brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther breaks out of prison to hunt down a sadistic serial killer who is terrorising London.
Idris Elba as John Luther.