- Is an only child of African immigrants to England. His father was from Sierra Leone and his mother was from Ghana. His name is of Krio African origin.
- Nominated for the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category for his role as Lenny Charles in The Big C (2010), but lost out to Justin Timberlake.
- He broke a land speed record, drove a dragster, and piloted an airplane in his miniseries Idris Elba: No Limits (2015). An avid rally fan, he competed in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship as well as starred in the miniseries, where he races a rally car with help from Ari Vatanen.
- Disc jockey under the name "Big Driis the Londoner".
- He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2016 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama. He is an actor in London, England.
- He co-produced and performed the intro on rapper Jay-Z's album "American Gangster" (2007).
- In the 1980s, he worked for Ford of Britain, as did his father who worked for the Ford company for 25 years; in 2019, he became the spokesperson for Ford's electric vehicles.
- Became a father for the second time at age 41 when his girlfriend Naiyana Garth gave birth to their son Winston Elba on April 17, 2014.
- In April 2009, The Prince's Trust, a leading youth charity which Elba credits with helping begin his career, appointed him their anti-crime ambassador.
- Has been a huge fan of Arsenal Football Club since age 15. His father is a supporter of Manchester United Football Club (interview on arsenal.com website February 2010).
- For his work in Beasts of No Nation (2015), he's the first (and, as 2016, the only) winner of the SAG award for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture not to receive an Academy Award nomination for the same performance.
- Former member of the National Youth Music Theatre.
- Revealed (by not denying) on The Graham Norton Show (2007) that he has a foot fetish. Kate Winslet discovered this while filming a love scene for The Mountain Between Us (2017).
- When he first moved to New York City as a budding actor in the late 1990s, he worked for a time as a bouncer at Caroline's Comedy Club on Broadway. Has no formal acting training.
- Has played a spaceship commander in two sci-fi films: Captain Janek of the spaceship Prometheus in the movie Prometheus (2012), and Captain Balthazar Edison of the starship USS Franklin in Star Trek Beyond (2016).
- Has worked with Tom Hardy in the crime comedy RocknRolla (2008). Both stars appeared in the very popular Star Trek series. Hardy appeared in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and Elba appeared in Star Trek Beyond (2016).
- Has appeared on the cover of Essence magazine's "Hot Hollywood Men" issue. (April 2004)
- He appeared on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) special Black Men: The Truth (2007).
- In September 2018, he was named one of Time Out magazine's 50 people for making London awesome and helping to shape London's cultural landscape to commemorate the magazine's 50th anniversary.
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