Idris Elba [VIDEO]
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We're doing this, man. We're doing this. You happy? Sound happy. Yes? Picture happy. Everybody's happy. All right. Then the most important question is, is Idris happy? How are you feeling? I'm feeling good. I mean, I'm shocked that you're awake. You were in L.A. a few days ago. I was in L.A.,

Yeah, less than 48 hours ago. Okay. I passed through London to come to Abu Dhabi. Right. I've been doing some miles, bro. You really have? Yeah. Do you get to go to the lounge now? Yes. I mean, but no, you know, honestly, airports can be daunting. I'm not an anxious flyer.

But the airports make me anxious. Are you being serious right now? Yeah, no, seriously. Airports, just too much going on. It feels so fragile. It's weird. You know, I would feel the calmest if I saw Idris Elba in an airport. I'm not even joking. Because you carry yourself in a way where I'd be like, man, everything's going bad. And I'd look and I'd be like, is that Idris Elba? Everything's going to be okay, y'all. Everything's going to be okay. ♪

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What seems like a beautiful bay also combined with like, I don't know, an office block. Speaking to Idris Elba, I would have said to you, this is probably a psychedelic dream that you're having. But that's exactly where I am. Chatting to Idris Elba in Abu Dhabi. And, oh yeah, before we jump into everything, congratulations on the SAG Awards. That was beautiful. Oh.

That was really beautiful. Coming from you? No, man, for real. That was really, really beautiful. It was funny. It was heartfelt. It was like a vibe. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, hold up, hold up.

You just tell me I was funny. You know that you're funny, though. No, bro. You know that you're funny. Okay, so me and you having a laugh about Fufu or African stuff, you know, we laugh. Yeah, yeah. But to stand up in front of the world like that and do what you do, I've thought about you a lot, actually, because you have a very good way of commanding a room. Your comic timing is hilarious. You go off the cuff and come back onto script. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was thinking about Trevor. I was trying to channel it. No, man, you killed it. If you were channeling me, I now see me differently.

I actually want to see my whole life channeled through Idris Elba now. If you're saying you were doing Trevor Noah, I'm like, damn. I was. Nah, man, for real. What was it like? I haven't seen you host before, by the way. Yeah, I don't... Actually, I wasn't meant to be hosting. They just gave me more segments than anyone else because I had won two awards one time. They duped me. They said, no, no, no, it's just a couple more links. I'm hosting. Yeah, you were hosting. It was a beautiful moment for me, man. I think...

One, it was cool to see something different. Two, I loved the vibe in the room. Like, you know, acting is such a weird profession in that from the outside, acting seems...

impervious to anything. You know what I mean? I'm sure you know what I mean by this. You know, like a lot of people out there will see you as an actor. They see anybody as an actor and they go, oh, what a great job. What a great life. It's perfect. Nothing affects you. You don't have the stress that a normal person has. And I noticed in the awards, you and other actors spent a lot of time talking about what it was like going through the strikes in Hollywood, what it was like having the industry shut down. And I wondered like,

Do those moments make you re-realize the fragility of the industry you're in? A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, in terms of strikes, you know, in terms of workers' rights, because that's what it's all about, right? It's like we're workers, one way or another, of an industry. We're called actors, called superstars, but we're workers. And the rights of those workers are fragile, especially in an industry that...

you know, is dominated by a few. And what was interesting about that room is that, I mean, there was the biggest names in the film industry who all went through the same thing, you know, and it was a strike and it was crippling. I think for all of us, you know, we all, all the actors in that room just realized that, you know, we're lucky to be working, lucky to have the industry that we have. And we have a union that actually really fought for some really important

Was there ever a moment in your life when you stopped? I mean, fear is the wrong word, but it's like, so maybe I'll try and explain this for people who aren't aware.

A lot of people know that in acting, there's auditioning. A lot of people know that in acting, you don't know when you may get your next role, et cetera. But I think few people truly appreciate how unpredictable it is. You know, I wonder, has there ever been a moment in your career when you felt secure as Idris, where you were like, all right, no, I'm good now? Or is there always that thing, that shadow behind you going like, you never know, Idris, you never know?

You know, it's interesting because when I did The Wire, okay, The Wire was a four-year explosion of my life. Before The Wire, I was literally penniless in New York City. And after The Wire, I was arguably one of the most famous black actors, at least, in America. Right. Because of my character, Stringer Bell. It was so celebrated. And at that time, leaving The Wire...

Because I didn't know I was going to die. I didn't know my character was going to die. Wait, what do you mean you didn't know he was going to die? I didn't know my character was going to die until we got the episode. Wait, for real? Yeah, yeah, 100. That's another story altogether. Damn. But it was tough love. But at that time, I was flying high. I mean, I could go anywhere. People were comparing me to Denz. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was only third season in. Anyway, when it fell off very quickly, very suddenly...

I remember thinking, oh, I'm good. I'm string of bell. Yeah. And that was a tough pill to swallow. Although I did work, but it was not the same. You see, that's something I don't even think about. Just my character dying. Yeah.

Like when I'm doing a hosting gig, when I'm doing comedy, there's not even a moment where I think to myself, yep, someone might surprise me and tell me, hey, Trevor, after the next ad break, you are no longer the host. There's a piano that's going to drop on your head and you're gone. Yeah. That's... It was a bit like this, you know.

You usually get your scripts, you know, like two, three in a row. They write them. Right. And I think the way I got it, I got episode seven. I was like, oh, episode seven. I got episode seven. Where's eight? Can I get eight? What's wrong? You're not in eight. What do you mean I'm not in eight? You should read it. That's how I kind of found out. I was like, wait. Stringer, stringer, stringer, stringer, stringer.

What? And it was crazy. It was like that. That's how I found out. And to your point, you know, it was scary. You have, I will say from the outside at least, one of the most amazing careers in that you've played everything. You play everyone. You exist everywhere doing everything. Some people want you to be Idris Elba, the action star. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm.

But then some people go, man, Idris Elba can also be the vulnerable love interest. And then obviously, you know, you're in Avengers, you know, you're out there conquering Fast and the Furious, etc. I know that it wasn't easy, but I want to know how and why you thought you could play something more than the industry wanted you to play. Because if you're successful as a gangster,

Hollywood goes, you're a gangster. And it's not even like a negative thing. Hollywood just goes, we know that you can do this. So you can do this. You do this. You chose not to do that. Why? I think I learned early on the power of no. Like, when I...

When I moved to America to become an actor there, my career in England wasn't bad. It was good. How old were you when you moved? I was probably about 25, 26 years old. Oh, damn. Okay. And there was this junction where I said, I'm not going to do what you want me to do in England. I'm going to say no, and I'm going to jump ship and go to America. And the power of no was my liberator.

Because in England, there was this definite glass ceiling. You could see it coming. You know, it was like, you're going to play one kind of role. And in England, it's a smaller market. Back then, going to America was like, what? You're going where? My guy, are you all right? Stay here. And so post The Wire, every role that came my way was all-

Gangsters. Yeah. All of them, you know, films, television. And I had to say no, but I was okay with saying no because I thought, no, I've got some range. I need to be able to show that range. And that's, that was definitely, I don't know. It was, like I said, it was a liberator for me to be able to know that the power of no is important. Yeah. But talk me through some of the doubts. You come from the UK. Yeah.

You're doing decently there. It's a small market, but it's a robust market. Once you're in, you're working, you're doing things, BBC, Channel 4, whatever. You come to the US. It wasn't an overnight thing for you though in the US, was it? No. I mean, the first two or three years was just flatline. Because I've heard rumors of you working at like a comedy club. I remember someone saying this once. They were like, I met Idris at a comedy club.

And I was like, what do you mean you met Idris like doing standup? They're like, no, no, he was working the door. I wasn't doing standup. I was standing up at the door. That's what I was doing. The original standup. The original standup. No, but okay. So talk me through. So what part of the career is this happening in? So you've come to the US. Yeah, I've come. Yeah. I had some savings. Yeah. My wife at the time I was married, you know, we were young. We were like, let's go to America. Had savings. I was like, power of no. This is great. We're out here. Yeah.

I didn't work for two years straight, straight 24 months, no money. And my savings ran out in the first six months. It was a strugs. So, you know, that's where I started to DJ in New York. I bought my records over. Literally, I shipped over six crates of records.

This is wild. And I moved from New York because I couldn't afford New York. I ended up in Jersey City. The rent was much cheaper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I reinvented, bro. It was one of these moments where it's like you have to dig in or you're going home. Yeah, but you didn't think of going home six months in, eight months in, 12 months in, 16 months in? What is keeping you from going home during that? Like what is the motivating force in your life?

That didn't allow you to give up. I'm trying to understand that. I think it was, you know, I jumped the ship, man. Like I had done something, no English, no black actor, no English,

young man had done that I knew, which is, I'm going to go to America and I'm going to be an actor over here. And I couldn't take the idea of letting that fail. I just couldn't. I did not want that to fail. And I was auditioning for a lot of them, but my accent wasn't very good. I couldn't really, you know, pull it off. How did you get the accent good? Because you have one of the best accents. Your accent is so good. I've seen people get angry. Yeah.

when they discover that you're not American. I've seen people get really, like, not even angry, like, they're angry that you could fool them to that level. Yeah. No, I've been in those conversations. Like, I think the way I got, because I was unemployed, bro. And I was living in New Jersey. I lived in Brooklyn for a little bit.

I was living life, you know, I was working the door, I was bartending, I was DJing. And before you know it, you just start speaking like an American because you're in the ting. You're in the ting. And then, you know, third year in though, it started to get really struggled because my wife and I were going through some stuff. She was pregnant. And there's one casting director, I talk about it all the time, Alexa Fogel. She would put me up for stuff. And she said, hey, listen,

This wire thing's come up. It's called The Wire. It's a pilot. They're going to shoot it in January. But if you go in, you cannot let them know you aren't American because they will not. I mean, this is about Baltimore. It's very specific. They don't want any strangers. I mean, please. So I was auditioning for this thing and I auditioned for four weeks straight in an American accent. And on the fourth audition, you know, the producer, David Simon, and another producer who's passed now, great guy,

They were in the room just like this. And they said to me, Idris, where are you from? That is the phrase every immigrant is terrified of hearing, no matter where they are in the world. Excuse me, where are you from? You know when your palms start sweating? Little sweat perforations in your forehead. And you're like, oh man. And I'm thinking to myself,

They told you don't say nothing. Yeah. And I'm thinking, oh, your accent is shit. Oh, he's sus-tute. And I was like, I'm looking at him and by this time I've known him just for audition. Yeah. Hey, you just come on, sit down. Why don't you do the scene again? You know, that kind of thing. I look at him and I said, I'm from East London.

The room just exploded. Oh, my God. I told you. No, you didn't know. You didn't know. And I'm sitting there, whoa, what is going on? They're like, yo, we had a bet. I said that he's not from Baltimore. He's not from Brooklyn. He's from somewhere else. I thought maybe Jamaican, maybe Haitian. You're from England. And this is the conversation I'm sitting there. And they were like, okay, you got the job.

You got the job. We don't want you to play Avon, though. We want you to play Stringer Bell. And I was in the room. Oh, man, so you were in for Avon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got the job. I'll tell Alexa, welcome. Thank you. But wow, you owe me money. I'm walking out of the room like, did my life just change? I don't know. What's going on?

And that was it. That was the way I got that film. You see, that's what I mean about serendipitous. Like, I love moments like that where now I'm trying to picture the show with you as Ava. It doesn't work in my head. It might have worked. It might not. But you know what I mean? Yeah, 100%. It's just like these stories. I love that phrase, though. Like, where are you from? Because in a way, what you said is so much deeper than just you putting on an accent. Yeah.

You lived as an American. Do you know what I'm saying? I don't think that's any coincidence. The fact that you were grinding, the fact that you were working multiple jobs, the fact that you didn't know what was going to happen from one paycheck to the next, the fact that you were, you know, in barbershops and in comedy clubs and working the bar and DJing and...

In a really strange way, both sad and beautiful at the same time. The fact. You were living as an American. Oh, yeah. The time that I knew I was American is when I had to go to the DMV to get my license. Okay, bro. Like, if anyone knows what that is, that is like, oh my days. That was one of the most, as soon as I had my license, I was like, yes. Yeah.

I can't tell me nothing because the process, the process was crazy. Oh, no, no. That's a rites of passage, I feel like. You have not lived in America until you've gone to the DMV in America. We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break. But let's talk a little bit about where you're from. There's a special...

I always feel with people who have moved from one place, especially the place they were born and lived, to another place to try and do something that requires them to ingratiate themselves to the people of that place. You know, I obviously started my career in South Africa. South Africa is very similar to the UK in that we have a small industry, but it works. It's robust, you know, and you do the little that you can and you do it in the world that they allow you to do it in.

Going to America was ridiculous. In my world, people literally were like, what are you doing? Why? Why America? And what would you say? About America? Well, yeah, but you see, my thing was I was never going for America. I don't know if you can relate to this, but when I look at anything that I'm doing, I try to do it

to the best of my ability and almost to the end of what it is supposed to be. So if I'm doing comedy, I do my best. I toured everywhere in South Africa. I started touring in Southern Africa. So I was in Namibia. I was in Zambia. I was in Botswana. I was doing my comedy everywhere.

The natural extension of that comedy is going to America, right? Because if you want to be one of the best comedians in the world, you cannot do it without performing at the top stages, at the top levels. I was already performing in the UK. You know, I was doing shows in everywhere from London to Brighton, Newcastle, Liverpool, you name it. The circuit. Yeah, I've been there, you know. Oh, you're not bad, are you, man? You know what I mean? I've been there. I was doing it.

But the US comes with a different type of pressure, with a different type of landscape. And so I went, I need to go and try this there. And it wasn't about like the bright lights of America. It was about the natural progression of my career. But then just like you, you now move into a new place where people go, you sound funny. You don't say, like I remember when I was first hosting The Daily Show.

No joke. I thought one of the biggest complaints we'd get would be about my view on America or my politics or whatever. The biggest complaint I got was about how I say the word controversy. Yeah.

And then... Complaint. Yeah, there was like a big... We got letters. We got letters daily. And the producers sat me down at some point and they were like, hey, Trev, so there are some words that you say, it's throwing people off a little bit and we understand it, but is there a way you could find a middle ground? Do you know what I mean? I had to relearn so many words.

Just because you're trying to work within the space, you know? And in a weird way, it then starts to redefine who are you? Yeah. And you are someone else when, I wouldn't say you're someone else, right? Because you always take your roots with you. If you're rooted, if you're a rooted person, you take that with you, right? But-

Adaptation. Definitely. You know? Yeah. And I think that it's not for everyone. Yeah, there's new parts of you, definitely. 100%, you know? It's kind of like, I had what I call an accent crisis. I had a crisis of accent because when I came out of The Wire and, you know, if I was going to a party or whatever, I was doing an interview or something and I talked the way I talked, they'd be like, yo, why are you talking like that, man? No, for real though, what? What, you doing a part? What are you doing, man? And you're like...

You try to figure out if you want friction, right? That's how I talk. No, seriously. They would almost feel like, yo, you got me, man. Like, you're Stringer Bell. You come from this. And because of the wire, especially, was not a satire. These were based on a real culture, real people.

if you like, of American underbelly. They took to my characters to the point where I had to hold myself, Idris, a certain way in definitely amongst the African-American community. Right. I had to hold myself with the

the sort of respect almost they had for Stringer Bell. Yeah. Which was a man trying to do good. Yeah. A man trying to do better than he was, you know, being prescribed to do. Wow. And that really was interesting. What that did to me is, did for my confidence, did for my, when I went back to England, going back to England and people were like, yeah, why are you talking like that?

And I just found myself, you know, when, you know, you're near England or you're in South Africa, Americans come over, they just got so much confidence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bigger and brasser and yeah, you know, and they got that, they believe they got that different. And I went back to England and I definitely felt like, oh, wow, I have adapted myself.

Even when I was in my mom and dad's household with my boys, they were like, yo, you seem a bit different. You seem a bit happier. You seem a little more enthusiastic. That's one thing I've learned about the UK. There's a little bit of like, all right, all right then. All right then. Turn it down a bit. Oh yeah, yeah. You're doing all right. You're doing all right. Yeah. It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. Yeah. Humble. It's the tall poppy syndrome. It really is. I think that's part of the reason why I didn't audition well.

Because I couldn't walk in there and be like, bow. This should be mine. They'd be like, oh, that was a good take. Can you do another one? I'd be like, did you like it? Oh, great. Okay, I'll try again. You like that? Okay, hold up. Wait till you see this one. That wasn't me. It's funny. I remember when I first started doing stand-up comedy in the US. You understand this. In America, they would have what they call the urban rooms and then rooms. Okay.

What that means is these are rooms where black people watch black comedy. And then the rest of the rooms are just, I guess, regular comedy. I always found that weird because I come from a country that's predominantly black and we never looked at it like that. So anyway, they go, you know, people will be like, oh, you got to go perform in urban rooms, go and do some urban rooms. And so I get to these urban rooms and, you know, it's black comedians, black audiences. And I would get on stage. And in South Africa, number one, Africa, you greet people.

So I'd walk out, I'd greet the audience. Good evening, everybody. You know, and that audience would stare at me. And I remember after one of the shows, one of my favorite people in the world, his name is Chris Spencer, comedian, really like a mentor to me in the game. He came to me after one of the shows and he's like, he's like, hey man, he's like, did you steal something? And I said, what do you mean? He's like, he's like, man, you walk on stage like you stole something. He's

He's like, "Man, you got to get on there. You got to own that stage, baby. Man, you're walking on there like you ain't supposed to be there." You start making the audience doubt themselves, man. They be looking at you like, "You supposed to be there?"

We don't feel like you're supposed to be there. He said, man, you got to get up there. And I was like, well, that's not how we do it. He's like, well, that's how we do it, baby. He's like, you got to understand. He's like, half those people in the audience, they're funnier than you. They know they're funnier than you. So you better show them why you up there. You better show them why you up there. And he like, it was a beautiful way. You know, when you connect those things, you know, you find. That's funny. I'd love to know, like, you know, in that, what is it that's inspired you to connect all of these parts of yourself? Because you're,

You're not just Idris Elba, the movie star in Hollywood. I've always loved how you have bigged up the UK at every opportunity that you've been given. You've also bigged up African-Americans at every opportunity you've been given. You've adopted these communities. And one that always touches me, obviously, is Africa. Idris Elba doesn't like wave at Africa from far. My man, your passport is stamped. Your passport is full of... Full of rice. Full of rice.

I knew you was going to say that. Fufu okra. It is full, full, full. Do you know what, Trev? So two things that were quite significant, right? To, I guess, who I am today is one, my mom told me that her, my mom was born in Ghana. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Her mom has gone in, but her dad was a Second World War vet from Kansas City. And on his deployment back to the States, he heard that, yo, segregation over here is still kicking it. I mean, in the army, you know, there was segregation, but everyone was fighting for each other, right? Mm-hmm.

soldiers were going back to the states and told you can't come in the restaurant yeah so he said he and his brother decided they're gonna go to africa they went to ghana and that's where he had 11 children my mom being the ninth the last one so that information came to me just before i then went to america and i kind of went with a slightly different purpose i was kind of like oh i'm

Wait, what? Oh, I've got roots here then. I mean, I belong here kind of thing, right? The second thing is that at some point in my later life, I was probably about 29 or so, I took my DNA test. I knew my mom had an American father, but my dad's from Sierra Leone. Very proud. Sierra Leone. Gone now. DNA. No Sierra Leonean. Wait, what? No.

10% Ghana, 10% Nigerian, 20% Bantu, 5% Togo, 5% Senegalese, Cameroonian. I mean, it was a map, right? I looked at this thing like, what is going on? Bantu being the Southern African tribe. Yeah, that's my side of the world. That traveled up. So I looked at this thing, right? And I was like, what the? Took it again, same thing. You took it again? Yeah, I did. I was like...

Sorry, I always find it funny when people do the same thing twice hoping for a different result. I don't know why I find that so funny. It's a DNA test, but I love the idea that you're like, hold on, hold on, let's try this again. And then you're like, and this time I'm going to push certain parts of myself.

I'm going to bring out the tempasso myself. I ate okra before I took it. I ate jollof. I was like, no, hold on. What were you hoping to get the second time around? My mom said to me, I told her about this. She said, ah, kuna. Kuna's mom would do this. Kuna, that is all money making. How much did you pay? How much did you pay? I told her. She's like, you see, to come and tell you that you're not from Sierra Leone, your dad is from Sierra Leone, your mom is from Ghana. I'm like, yeah, but mom, scientifically...

You know, like that's not how it works. Anyway, so I did it again. I didn't even tell her the results the second time around, but this was me. And I just found myself like, not questioning, but I was like, wow, I'm African. I am from this continent. And yeah.

It also reminded me that everywhere I go in Africa, probably a bit like you too, right? People claim you. Yeah. Ah, my beautiful way. They claim you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Ah, you're a resident now. You know what I mean? Wherever I go. And I just, I guess I adopted that. So now as a, you know, I'm in the public eye and people, you know, talk to me about where I'm from. I have a real rich background.

Backstory. It's beautiful. I can talk about my granddad. I can talk about my, you know, Freetown, Sierra Leone, was the home of the returned slaves. No wonder. No wonder my DNA doesn't say Freetown, Sierra Leone. Because my dad's DNA is probably mixed from so many different types of tribes, you know? So that has been the very...

feeling I have every time I open my mouth about where I'm from. Yeah. I'm from England. I was born and raised there. I'm proud of that. But out of that comes this sort of, I'm an explorer, you know, I'm an explorer of myself. I'm an explorer of the cultures that I'm from. And I've been, I remember, man, I think we talked about this, but when I got to play Nelson Mandela. Oh yeah. Yeah. Do you know when it hit the news in South Africa, it was polarizing. People were like,

This guy can't play. He's obviously West African. What are you talking about? He's not closer. How's he going to play Nelson? Okay, he's tall, but what, are you joking? And others were like, no, fantastic. They got a Hollywood actor to play a great man. Right. It was just really... And I remember thinking, wow, I never really thought about it until... No, at the time I said, dude, this is the first thing I said. I said...

Nelson's light skin. My agent is South African. He's like, Idris, Idris, Idris, Idris, listen, don't ever repeat that, okay? Just don't repeat that. I was like, no, but seriously, man, what are they going to say? Like, what are South Africans going to say? And then he said to me, remember when you took your DNA test? What happened?

I went, yeah, you're African, baby. You're African. And so is Nelson. So just go and kick the shit out of this role. And I remember doing this one scene. It was in Soweto. And it was one of the scenes when Nelson was a lawyer. Beginnings of his rallying, you know, for the ANC. Really early parts.

And he was in Soweto, beautiful suit, lawyer, the party, and, you know, boxer, radical guy, you know, smart, suave guy. And the director did not want me to come out and rehearse. He just wanted me to be ready. He had four cameras, 700 extras, all from Soweto, you know what I mean? Young people. So he wants you to come out and just do the speech as if you were doing the speech because there is no doing a speech twice. And we're going to shoot it. Yeah. I just want to see what happens.

I was back there like this, boy. Oh my God. I'm going to get booed. I'm going to get booed. It was almost exactly what Nelson probably had to go through at the time. Oh yeah. Which is, who's this guy, this lawyer coming out here talking all this shit? Is he crazy? I came out there, man. First thing I heard, I even heard someone say, is that Stringer Bell? What is he doing up there?

Right? Another one said, that's the guy from Daddy's Little Girls. I could hear them. That is so funny. So everyone knows everything you've been in. Yeah. But he said, now he's playing Madiba. First take, mind you, they're staring at me. And this is exactly what, because at the time, Soweto was like, boy, we're not sure if we're going to... There was people listening. They're like, are we going to stand with this guy? Because this guy is trying to get us all in trouble. He's talking some radical shit. Yeah. And here I was.

out here playing Nelson, dark as you can get, hitting the accent, hitting the notes, hitting the beats. And I never forget about it because it's quite an emotional, rousing speech. But at the end of the first tape, man, I was in tears. Practically the first five rows of people were in tears with me. And we're talking about freeing Africans. Yeah.

from the bullshit, freeing them. And man, it was like, it was just the craziest mishmash of all of it. You know, me as an actor, who am I? Where am I from? Should I be here? Do I have the right to play the big man? Then this young, these young people who know Idris, who have celebrated Idris's career,

watching me polarized by can he pull off Medibs yeah and then of course slowly growing into it with you growing into it with me at the same time Medibs at the time slowly winning the people over the community over in

into his rhetoric. So it was a fascinating man. So it's quite, how did you, how did you keep, because Nelson Mandela has one of the most difficult accents to pull off. Yeah. How do you, how did you keep that in? Can you still do it till this day? Because you have so many accents. You have like different English accents. You've got different American accents. You've got at the SAG Awards. I, I don't know where you pulled out a Robert De Niro from. Yeah.

I'm not even joking. That was one of the most impressive... Because when you started, I was like, well, you can't do Robert De Niro. You're massive. Look at your size. Look at Robert De Niro. Yo, you became Robert De Niro. You even became a little lighter. I don't know how you did it, Idris. Like your skin tone changed. You became lighter. You became smaller. I'm not even...

Yo, that was good. I'll take that. No, but I'm being for real though. How long do you hold on to them for? Do you keep them forever or do they slip in time? It's funny, when you said earlier you have one of the best American accents, I disagree. If I'm in a row, I'm in a row and at that time I can do it because I guess I've got to live it as close to the honesty of it as I can. But if you ask me to do it now, if you ask me to do Madib now, it would sound like an impression.

Oh, that makes... I can't. Okay, okay. I can't. Like, even when I'm just joking around and doing American accents, I just... They're not on point. It's not the exact same. It's not the same thing, but... Well, Nelson, I find... I never lose my Nelson Mandela. I always...

I just, like, there'll be days where I just do it for no reason. I'm being serious. I'll literally just, like, be walking around in my room. And I'll just be like, never forget. Those people. It's just like it's in the... I actually use, I use my Nelson Mandela to get to my Barack Obama.

Okay. Because I find they have the same... My conspiracy theory is that Mandela taught Obama how to do it. Because they got the same... Yeah, because they got the same thing. Because Mandela has the... I believe all South Africans... All must fight for this country. He's got that thing, right? And then Barack, if you take... It's the natural progression of that, right? I believe we can come together...

And as Americans, we got to try to, you know, it's a stronger voice. It has a lot of, but whenever I lose it, I have to go back to Mandela because it's the same. You know what I mean? As Americans, as Americans, we got to find our way to believe in ourselves. It's the same. I'm fighting every impulse to challenge you to a Barack and a Mandela right now. Why don't we do it? No, because. Because why? What's going to happen? Because you're just going to murder me. I don't believe that that's true.

I don't believe that that's true. Do your Mandela. I'll even like, it'll be like a harmony. Trevor, when you're doing Mandela, there's got to be a very... You see, you're killing it. This guy just pulled it out. What?

When it's Barack, there's got to be a... No, that's terrible. No, but you're Barack. You know why? Because I took it up. Yeah, no, no. Chesty. Chesty. Barack is also... He's also through. But you're Mandela. That was flawless. I was almost doing like Mandela like you hear him on the radio. When you're hearing a broadcast of Mandela. He pitches up. Yes. He does pitch up. But when you would speak to him in person. Yeah. It's funny you say the thing about like knowing yourself and the pieces of yourself. I wonder if...

that's what's made you such an amazing actor. Is that like, you have been forced in life to discover the parts of yourself as a real character that makes you who you are. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And I feel like all great actors will tell you that they have to know all the parts that make the character who they are. What would you say you brought from your life into acting? And what would you say that acting has brought into your life the other way around? I would say that in...

The maturity of any actor, unless you're a child actor and you win at your first audition and you're a star. Yeah. But the maturity of an actor is a patient game. You know, you kiss a lot of frogs, a lot of auditions, a lot of no's before you get that yes. Okay. A lot of rejection. But I've had some really challenging moments in my life. And I definitely know as an actor, we have to have thick skin. You have to go through...

some stuff that actually is traumatizing for you, right? You know, when you play a role like Luther, for example, he sees a lot of murder, destruction, blah, blah, blah. I go in, I play that role and I play it to all of my ability, but my body doesn't actually know I'm acting. That's the thing people take for granted, I think. So when I'm crying or the trauma, I'm yelling or my head's about to explode, it's...

It's great acting. It's great. But actually, my body doesn't know the difference. What do you do to get back to Idris? And how do you work on releasing that from you as a person? The first thing is to acknowledge that, you know, you're acting, bro. Yeah. It's not real. Go do something for yourself. Go treat yourself good. Go...

Take some therapy. Like all of that has helped me become, I think, a better human being because I know my boy, I'm so dedicated to my characters. I know I need to be dedicated to Idris as well, which is where the DJ and where the, you know, the philanthropy, where, you know, the other parts come in. So that's all for you. Yeah. That's you. Because I've seen people ask many times, they will say, what are you doing, man? Yeah.

You've worked so hard to climb the mountain that is Hollywood. You have broken through so many barriers. And then man turns around and says he's a DJ. And he's making music and he's taking a step back from acting. But I've seen you on the decks. You are having the time of your life. But I didn't know that you were doing it for you. I thought you were looking for another challenge or another thing. But that's like you. I need it. I need the balance. I need the…

the natural juices that come from that. What is it about DJing in particular? I used to DJ, so I want to know what you... For me, there's a really beautiful energy sweet point, right? It's like when you make a whole room laugh with one gesture. Yeah. That absolute pinnacle moment is an energy that you can't replicate. And it's like when you mix two songs together and the crowd go, ah! Yeah.

That, I can't get that from acting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. You know, but when you DJ, you do anything like that, that feeling is real. And that energy that I get from doing that is like rejuvenating. It's like, that's the stuff, that's the stuff my batteries are really made of. You know what I'm saying? So I do it for, I do those, I do all these different things for therapy. Yeah. Because I really do commit to my roles, you know what I mean? In a way that my body doesn't know. How long have you been DJing for?

When did you start? I started when I was 13. 13? 13, yeah. On like actual, that's actual records, right? Actual DJing, yeah. That's actual, actual old school. I was there when sort of hip hop kind of began. Hip hop was 50 years, right? So I was kind of there in the UK. Yeah.

buying records the first hip-hop records like yo what is this sound yeah what were your decks were you like sl 1200s what were you using back then no man no citronic belt drive oh my goodness

That's where you have to let the vinyl go at the right speed. Otherwise, it's like… I love it when you call me Big Rump Rump. You got to be so careful with those when you let them go. Oh, bud. And the needle's like really… Oh, it's always ready to skip.

Did you ever play gigs where you would put the needle on the record and then someone bumps something or the crowd like jumps and then you're playing, it's going well, it's going well. Everyone's having a good time. Jump around, jump, jump, jump around. And the crowd looks at you like you did it now because the, oh man.

Those were the days. Those were really the days. I forgot you DJed. You told me. How long have you been DJing? So I DJed for, oh goodness. I started straight off to high school. I was making music on a PC. So I was playing with everything. From mixing the music to Fruity Loops and Pro Tools and trying to play around with that stuff. A friend saw me doing it. He said, yo, you should come and DJ for people. I was like, I don't do that. He said, no, you do. Just come and do it.

And I would sit there. Yo, when I tell you I was the biggest nerd, I would come there with a full PC rig. Because it's not sexy like now with a laptop and you've got to... No. I'm talking like a full on... You remember like that cream colored screen? Big plastic. Yeah, the big box. I'd come there looking like I'm about to set up somebody's network. I'd put that stuff down. This is in the hood, by the way. Proper in the hood. And people are looking at me.

And people would come and be like, "Sorrise, who's the DJ?" And I'm like, "I'm the DJ." And they go, "Where's your turntable?" I said, "No, I use a computer." And they're like, "For music?" And I was like, "Yeah." And you could see their faces go like, "Oh, this is not going to end well. This is not going to end well."

yo and then I would play that was me and I would just sit there mixing songs for like six hours live really yeah because you could have that much music and I would play everything I would go you'd start off with like you know I'd start off with like slow bpms I'd be in like the 70s 80s warming things up it'd be like jagged edge and all of that get to like 94 bpm move things up okay yeah and then at some point I'd like warm it up warm it up we get to like hip

Midnight, we'd start playing house. Try and get to like 120 BPM, you know, get people moving. And then you bring it back down on the other side. I loved it. I loved it. What was your DJ name? I never got one. Okay. What was yours? Knuckles? Nah, so it started off as my mom gave me this one. Your mom gave you a DJ name? Yeah. It was Idrico. Oh, that's not bad, actually. Idrico. That's not bad. Really? Yeah.

I don't think that's bad. Because I used to play for my parents whenever they had parties. Idrico! I don't think that's bad at all. I thought you were going to be like DJ Cute Boy. DJ My Special Child. I thought it would be something. Like, I don't think of an African mom, but Idrico's dope. Idrico was the first one. And then it went from that to Kipling. Mr. Kipling. Oh, Mr. Kipling. Yeah, Mr. Kipling. I like that. Kippers. Do you have one now? No, it's Just Idris. Just Idris is a nice one.

No, just Idris. Yeah, just Idris is a great DJ name. It's just Idris on the decks. I like that. No, no, no. Idris. You're saying just Idris. Just saying. Yeah, just Idris. Don't go anywhere because we got more What Now? after this. We got Idris, the actor, Idris, the DJ, Idris.

Idris, I say this and I don't say this lightly. I think the world builder, you have a statesman vibe to you. And I've seen you with people like you want to create, you want to build, you want to grow. Like when you look at the world you're in now, first of all,

Where do you see the state of Hollywood and acting and content and everything right now? Because it's definitely changing. You can't deny it. I mean, some would even argue you're the last...

You know, the last of the superstars of like the real Hollywood, you know? No, no, really. It's changing, I think. It's becoming a lot more niche. And you could see at the SAG Awards people talking about this. People saying, you know, I played this role. I got to do that. This is what my dream was. This is how I am. I got to do this for the first time. I got to play this type of character when nobody said I could. What excites you about...

the industry right now and and where do you still want to see the industry grow and change you know um our industry has taken on incredible change shape-shifting over the last i'd say 10 years and it sort of sort of began really slowly with this conversation around diversity around

societies looking like the TV shows we were watching and seeing that it wasn't. And then peeling the onion back even further and seeing that there wasn't very much equality within it behind the scenes. So, you know, the gender debate springing into action, Me Too and all this. So over the last 10 years, we've seen a

an industry that's gone through, I think, a very healthy health check. You know what I mean? Checking itself. You know what I'm saying? A history that essentially rewarded people for bad behavior suddenly said enough of that in a healthy way. Okay. Alongside that, though, came this sort of interesting expansion with the digital era. Just more.

You know, I mean, I come from a period where in England there's four or five channels. Yeah. Okay. And you watch one of those five. That was it. That was it. You were lucky if you got cable or Sky TV. Okay. You were lucky. And then we're in an era now where you literally can watch anything from anywhere in the world on your phone. Yeah. And what that's done for our industry is expanded it, but also somehow rejuvenated.

restricted it a little bit because the metrics of how you get a show made now are different. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's like, I think that to your point, you know, there's niche micro groups that started to emerge now. So it's very rare now to have one actor be a star for an entire generation. Yeah.

That's, you know, weirdly enough, I feel like Africa is, you know, the continent of Africa still has the opportunity to have the most incredible movie film industry in the world. Your eyes light up when you say that. Oh yeah, man.

For real, your eyes. Yeah. I feel like you want to be at the forefront of that. I want to be at the foundation of it. We want Trevors, we want Idrises, and we want them to be the biggest stars they can be. Because in that part of the world, we haven't had that opportunity. There's 1.4 billion people there and there's 4,000 cinemas. What? How are we getting our stories? You know, I think about our industry with a sort of opto-futurist perspective. Hmm.

Because as much as I've worked gladly for 30, 35 years in, you know, in America and England, I've had most incredible opportunities and career. I still think I've got more to offer when I think about Africa. You know, when we saw what happened with the Black Panther and the sort of Afrofuturism world was sort of really exploding. Everyone was like, whoa, whoa, what is this? This is incredible.

That was a moment where you're saying, yeah, you know, albeit Marvel, but it was a moment where the world sort of stood up and was like, oh, wait a second. There's African superstars? Yeah, yeah. Wait, there's African sci-fi? What? And just imagine what that could do, you know? And it does make me excited. What's your dream? I ask everyone on the podcast, what now? Because I find...

Whenever I meet people, they're always at an inflection point. Something's about to happen or something has happened and now they're moving on or they're thinking of the next step. You are constantly moving towards the next step, you know, and in a really peaceful way, I might add. You know, it's always been fun to watch the way you move. You seem both grateful and

And also still hungry, which is a hard balance to find. So what now? What do you dream of in your world? You know, if you could wave your magic wand, what would Idris be doing for the next decade? If I could wave my magic wand, it would be, I would be part of the African film industry's

Yeah. Seeing studios, seeing African streaming companies, seeing producers, you know, live on the international stage while bringing collaborators into the continent. I love that. As well as sending out stories internationally, you know, that would be, I would sit as a,

as a director, as a producer, as a vessel in that, you know, in that dream. I love that. That's what I would do. I mean, you know, I really appreciate your words, man, because you said quietly and I take that to mean humbly, you know, I'm humbly appreciative of the opportunities I have. I'm humbly respectful that I've been invited to this Investopia to come and talk about this dream. Yeah.

and that I could possibly raise some partnerships for it. So it's an exciting time. I'm hoping that one day you and me make a movie together. Hey, all right. Real talk. All right. I think that the world should see that. We can play. It'll be a buddy cop movie. The two Mandela's. Fraze. I said Fraze. He also said Fraze. What he means is fries.

He's saying fries, but it's fries. That's a terrible accent. Because Mandela never said fries. Oh, man. I can see the movie now. To Mandela's.

Fighting crime. We would lock you up, but we believe in freedom. So you can go. Idris Elba, Trevor Noah, Mandela Man 2. I think we could do it. I think we could do it. I think we should do it. I think we could. Yo, man. Thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me, man. Always. Anytime. Anytime.

What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions and Full Wealth 73. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Sanaz Yamin, and Jody Avigan. Our senior producer is Jess Hackle. Marina Henke is our producer. Music, mixing, and mastering by Hannes Braun. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now?