Idris Elba is an English actor. He is known for portraying drug trafficker Stringer Bell on the HBO series The Wire , DCI John Luther on the BBC One series Luther and Nelson Mandela in the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013). He has been nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, winning one and was nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 2point4 Children | Parachute Instructor | Episode: "Fortuosity" |
| Space Precinct | Pizza Delivery Man | Episode: "Double Duty" | |
| 1994, 1995 | The Bill | Earl Lee, Alex Mason | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Absolutely Fabulous | Hilton | Episode: "Sex" |
| Bramwell | Charlie Carter | Episode: "The Outcast's Baby" | |
| 1996 | The Governor | Officer Chiswick | 6 episodes |
| Crocodile Shoes II | Jo-Jo | Episode: "Troubled Man" | |
| The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Raffy, Pest Controller | 4 episodes | |
| Crucial Tales | Benton | Episode: "Spiders and Flies" | |
| 1997 | Insiders | Robinson Bennett | 6 episodes |
| Family Affairs | Tim Webster | 7 episodes | |
| Silent Witness | Charlie | Episode: "Blood, Sweat & Tears" | |
| 1998 | Verdict | PC Brian Rawlinson | Episode: "Neighbours from Hell" |
| Ultraviolet | Vaughan Rice | 6 episodes | |
| 1999 | Dangerfield | Matt Gregory | 12 episodes |
| 2000 | In Defence | PC Paul Fraser | Episode #1.3 |
| 2001 | London's Burning | Cpl. Richard Frost | 2 episodes |
| Law & Order | Lonnie Liston | Episode: "3 Dawg Night" | |
| 2002 | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Robert Gabriel | Episode: "Payment in Blood" |
| Hack | Mac Boone | Episode: "My Alibi" | |
| 2002–2004 | The Wire | Russell "Stringer" Bell | 37 episodes |
| 2003 | CSI: Miami | Angelo Sedaris | Episode: "The Best Defense" |
| Queens Supreme | Carla | Episode: "Mad About You" | |
| Soul Food | Smitty | Episode: "Sacrifice Fly" | |
| 2005 | Girlfriends | Paul | Episode: "All in a Panic" |
| Sometimes in April | Augustin Muganza | Television film | |
| Jonny Zero | Hodge | Episode: "To Serve and to Protect" | |
| 2006 | All in the Game | Paul | Television film |
| 2008 | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency | Charles Gotso | Episode: "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" |
| 2009 | The Office | Charles Miner | 7 episodes |
| 2010 | The Big C | Lenny | 4 episodes |
| Walk Like a Panther | — | Executive producer | |
| 2010–2019 | Luther | John Luther | 20 episodes; also associate producer |
| 2011 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force | Police Officer | Voice role; episode: "Intervention" |
| How Hip Hop Changed the World | — | Executive producer | |
| Demons Never Die | — | ||
| 2012 | Idris Elba's How Clubbing Changed the World | Himself (host) | Television documentary |
| 2013 | Idris Elba: King of Speed | 2 episodes | |
| 2013, 2015 | Playhouse Presents | Akuna's Father, Narrator | Also wrote and directed "The Pavement Psychologist" |
| 2015 | Idris Elba: No Limits | Himself (host) | 4 episodes |
| 2017 | Guerrilla | Kentoro "Kent" Abbasi | 4 episodes; also executive producer |
| Five by Five | Alpha Ash | 2 episodes; also executive producer | |
| Idris Elba: Fighter | Himself (host) | Miniseries; also executive producer | |
| The Best FIFA Football Awards 2017 | Television special | ||
| 2018–2020 | In the Long Run | Walter Easmon | 19 episodes; also creator |
| 2018 | The Best FIFA Football Awards 2018 | Himself (host) | Television special |
| 2019 | Saturday Night Live | Episode: "Idris Elba/Khalid" | |
| Turn Up Charlie | Charlie Ayo | 8 episodes; also creator and executive producer | |
| 2020 | Coronavirus, Explained | Narrator | Episode: "How to Cope" |
| Idris Elba Meets Paul McCartney | Paul McCartney | 60-minute BBC special | |
| 2022 | Idris Elba's Fight School | Himself (Presenter) | Five-part series [5] |
| Zootopia+ | Chief Bogo | Voice role, episode: "So You Think You Can Prance?" | |
| 2023 | Hijack | Sam Nelson | Miniseries |
| What If...? | Heimdall | Voice role, episode: "What if... Hela Found the Ten Rings?" | |
| 2024 | Knuckles | Knuckles the Echidna | Voice role, miniseries; also executive producer |
| The Greatest of All Time | TBA | Filming |
| Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | SFC "Truck" | [6] |
| 2014 | FIFA 15 | Voice | E3 trailer |
| 2016 | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege | Team Leader | Televised advertisements |
| 2019 | NBA 2K20 | Coach Ernie Ames | MyCareer mode |
| 2023 | Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty | Solomon Reed | Also likeness |
| Year | Artist | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Fat Joe featuring Armageddon and Tony Sunshine | "All I Need" | — | |
| 2004 | Angie Stone featuring Snoop Dogg | "I Wanna Thank Ya" | ||
| 2010 | Giggs | "Hustle On" | Driver | Also producer |
| 2012 | Mumford and Sons | "Lover of the Light" | Blind Man | Also co-director and producer |
| 2014 | K Michelle | "Damn" | — | Director |
| Various | "Imagine" (UNICEF: World version) | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2016 | Macklemore | "Dance Off" | Featured artist | |
| 2019 | Wiley, Sean Paul, & Stefflon Don | "Boasty" | ||
| Stormzy | "Vossi Bop" | Cameo |
Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, known as Joseph Fiennes, is an English actor of film, stage, and television. Journalist Zoe Williams observed that "he seemed to be the go-to actor for English cultural history". Fiennes is particularly known for his versatility and period pieces. His numerous accolades include one Screen Actors Guild Award and nomination for a British Academy Film Award.
Michael Christopher Sheen is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool with Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997), and Henry V (1997). His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse.
Naomie Melanie Harris is an English actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series Simon and the Witch in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film 28 Days Later (2002), the witch Tia Dalma in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films, Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), and Frances Barrison / Shriek in Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). She portrayed Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
Andrew Clement Serkis is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion-capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy filmsThe Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), also portraying Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022).
Kwame Kwei-Armah is a British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. He is best known for playing paramedic Finlay Newton in the BBC medical drama Casualty from 1999 until 2004. In 2005, Kwei-Armah became the second black Briton to have a play staged in the West End of London. Kwei-Armah's award-winning piece Elmina's Kitchen transferred to the Garrick Theatre in 2005. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to drama. He was artistic director of the Young Vic theatre in London, succeeding David Lan, announcing his departure in February 2024.
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo is a British-American actor, director, and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award. In 2016, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama.
Barking & Dagenham College is a general further education college in East London, England. It is located at a single complex in the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham next to Central Park and less than a mile from the town centre of Romford.
Idrissa Akuna Elba is an English actor, rapper, singer, and DJ. An alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre in London, he is known for roles including Stringer Bell in the HBO series The Wire (2002–2004), DCI John Luther in the BBC One series Luther (2010–2019), and Nelson Mandela in the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013). For Luther, he received four nominations each for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, winning one of the former.
Sophie Okonedo is a British actress. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019, both for services to drama.
Aml Eysan Ameen is a British actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his roles as Trevor (Trife) in Kidulthood (2006), Malcolm Davies in Harry's Law, Lewis Hardy in the ITV television series The Bill, Capheus in the first season of the Netflix original series Sense8, and Alby in The Maze Runner (2014).
David Harewood OBE is a British actor and is the current president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in Homeland (2011–2012), and as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman in Supergirl (2015–2021).
Oluwunmi Mosaku is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther. In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki.
James Olatokunbo Akingbola is a Nigerian-British television, theatre and film actor. He rose to fame playing PC Neil Parker in Holby Blue, and subsequently Antoine Malick in its parent series Holby City. He has subsequently appeared as Koji in the first series of the sitcom Kate & Koji, Valentine Easmon in In the Long Run, and Geoffrey Thompson in Bel-Air.
Luther is a British psychological crime thriller television series starring Idris Elba as DCI John Luther and Ruth Wilson as Alice Morgan, written by Neil Cross. The detective Luther must make cases against criminals while the murderer Morgan has a complicated relationship with him. The first series is composed of six episodes which ran in May and June 2010. A second series of four episodes aired on BBC One in June and July 2011, and a third was commissioned in 2012 composed of four episodes which aired in July 2013. A two-episode fourth series was broadcast in December 2015, and a fifth series of four episodes premiered on 1 January 2019. BBC Studios handled distribution for the TV series.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a 2013 biographical film directed by Justin Chadwick from a script written by William Nicholson and starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. The film is based on the 1994 autobiographical book Long Walk to Freedom by anti-apartheid revolutionary and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Cynthia Erivo is an English actress and singer. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Erivo ventured into films in 2018, playing roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. For her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), Erivo received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she also wrote and performed the song "Stand Up" on its soundtrack, which garnered her a nomination in the Best Original Song category.
Mark Rowley is a Scottish actor, who has regular appearances in River City (2013-2014), Young Dracula (2014), Home Fires (2016), The North Water and The Spanish Princess (2020), he played the Irish warrior Finan, Uhtred’s sidekick in battle, in The Last Kingdom (2017-2022), and was Prince Alvitirin in The Witcher: Blood Origin in 2022.
Luther: The Fallen Sun is a 2023 crime thriller film directed by Jamie Payne and written by Neil Cross. It serves as a film continuation of Luther. The film stars Idris Elba, reprising his role as police detective John Luther, with Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis. The film is about the detective's efforts to stop a wealthy serial killer's complex schemes.
Wilson Enrique I. Mbomio Mba Radjou-Pujalte is a British actor. He began his career as a child actor in the BBC One drama Dickensian (2016) and the Nickelodeon series Hunter Street (2018–2019). He has since starred in the Netflix series The Witcher (2019–). His films include Kindling (2023).