Idris Elba

An only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born and raised in London, England. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked at Ford Dagenham; his mother, Eve, is from Ghana and had a clerical duty. Idris attended school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting, before he dropped out. He gained a place in the National Youth Music Theatre - thanks to a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant. To support himself between acting roles, he worked in jobs such as tyre-fitting, cold call advertising sales, and working night shifts at Ford Dagenham. He worked in nightclubs under the nickname DJ Big Driis at age 19, but began auditioning for television roles in his early-twenties.His first acting roles were on the soap opera _Family Affairs (1997)_ (qv), the television serial _Ultraviolet (1998)_ (qv), and the medical drama _Dangerfield (1995)_ (qv). His best known roles are as drug baron Russell "Stringer" Bell on the HBO series _The Wire (2002)_ (qv), as DCI John Luther on the BBC One series _Luther (2010)_ (qv), and as Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He later starred in the films _Daddy's Little Girls (2007)_ (qv), _Prom Night (2008)_ (qv), _RocknRolla (2008)_ (qv), _The Unborn (2009)_ (qv) and _Obsessed (2009)_ (qv). He also appeared in the films _American Gangster (2007)_ (qv), _Takers (2010)_ (qv), _Thor (2011)_ (qv), _Prometheus (2012)_ (qv), _Pacific Rim (2013)_ (qv), _Thor: The Dark World (2013)_ (qv), _Beasts of No Nation (2015)_ (qv) and _Star Trek Beyond (2016)_ (qv). He voiced Chief Bogo in _Zootopia (2016)_ (qv), Shere Khan in _The Jungle Book (2016)_ (qv), and Fluke in _Finding Dory (2016)_ (qv).'Idris Elba' (qv) was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2016 New Years Honours for his services to drama.::Kad