Idrissa Akuna Elba OBE is an English actor. An alumnus of the National Youth 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.
Elba appeared in Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007), Obsessed (2009) and Prometheus (2012). He portrayed Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU), beginning with Thor (2011), and Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad (2021), set in the DC Extended Universe. He also starred in Pacific Rim (2013), Beasts of No Nation (2015), for which he received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and Molly's Game (2017). Elba has also voiced characters in Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory (all 2016), and Sonic the Hedgehog 2(2022). He made his directorial debut in 2018 with an adaptation of the 1992 novel Yardie by Victor Headley.
