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"50 Idris Elba Quotes & Sayings

      English     /     View profile
Born: 6 September 1972 | Musician | Actor | Writer | DJ |

I'm never shaken or stirred.

Never Shaken Stirred
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Yeah, I know, any time you hear an actor say, 'I do music', you cringe. But I want to be gradual with my music. I want to earn my stripes.

Actor Any Cringe Earn
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I was really ambitious, so I was innovative. I was one of the first DJs to do live calls, 'cause I found this phone device that would pick up other people's voices.

Ambitious Calls Cause Device
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As an actor, you're trained to do the right thing, be politically correct, say your lines, say the right thing about the people you're working with.

About Actor Correct Do The Right Thing
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Because I was big, I didn't have to listen to anyone doubting me. I was just considered good at football or whatever, there were no questions about it.

About Anyone Because Big
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Every leading lady I work with, I'll see if I can get a song out of them and put it on an album.

Album Every Get I Can
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People expect me to be that guy. But I'm more east London boy than east Baltimore.

Baltimore Boy East Expect
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I'm a little sheepish about it. Whenever I meet fans and they're like, 'Oh, you're so sexy,' I just don't get that. There's no way one man can be universally sexy.

About Fans Get Just
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It's weird because my parents don't really understand my business. I get fan mail all day long, but if a piece happens to get to their house, they're like, 'Oh, my God, you've got a fan! You have to write them back. You have to do it!'

All Day Back Because Business
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If I was gonna go to jail, I don't want to go to jail for stealing a bottle of water. I'll steal that $20 million. At least then it was worth it.

Bottle Go Gonna Jail
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I'm an ambitious person. I never consider myself in competition with anyone, and I'm not saying that from an arrogant standpoint, it's just that my journey started so, so long ago, and I'm still on it and I won't stand still.

Ambitious Anyone Arrogant Competition
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I've always been DJing; it's just I'm making more of a push for it, making it more public.

Always Been Just Making
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Whether it's music or acting, that creativity all comes from the same source.

Acting Creativity Music Same
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The one album I can't live without is called 'Cumbolo' by a band called Culture. Every song on their album is deep, but there's one in particular called 'This Train.' I have a tattoo of the lyrics on my left arm.

Album Arm Band Culture
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In 'Pacific Rim' I had to have a haircut I wouldn't usually rock. However, the moustache I had in the film - that might have to come out again. It was a good moustache. Good times.

Again Come Film Good
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The only thing I change mainly is my sneakers. I love sneakers. But everything's sort of black or jeans. Jeans, always.

Always Black Change Everything
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Not obsessed with particularly Nike, but sneakers in general. I love them.

General I Love Love Nike
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I don't have a place that I call home at the moment because there's no point. I mean, I'm a traveling circus for a while. It's weird. Like, if I wanted to go home, there's nowhere to go. I just go to a hotel. But I've kind of gotten used to it.

Because Call Circus Go
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I think 'The Wire' really is relatable. It reflects an ongoing issue across America, about inaccuracies in major cities between rich and the poor and some of the things that go on behind the red tape of council and government bodies.

About Across America Behind
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When I look at my body of work, I've played a lot of characters who are morally conflicted - 'I'm right, no I'm wrong, I don't know what to do!' I want to play more characters who don't care as much, and who aren't as measured. They are what they are, no apologies.

Apology Body Care Characters
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There's the argument that you can relate to someone who's completely unrelatable. In the way that a director shows you his imagination on a film, then I get to show you my imagination in a big dumb character.

Argument Big Character Director
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You know, film is the ultimate goal in an actor's career. I mean, I still love TV. I have my feet firmly stamped in it. But my opportunities have been bigger and better.

Actor Been Better Bigger
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In some countries, no one knows who Idris Elba is.
Countries Knows No-One Some
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It's actually quite criminal how 'The Wire' was systematically ignored.

Actually Criminal How Ignored
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I knew that if I wanted to be all I could be, I would have to go to the U.S. It took three years to get the accent right.

Accent Could Get Go
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Africans, we hold on to our youths and whip them into shape.
African Hold Our Shape
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I wasn't bad at school, but I was never a bookworm.
Bad Never School Bookworm
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The less I talk about being black, the better.

About Being Better Black
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I'd rather a young black actor read about success as opposed to how tough it was. I get these roles because I can act and that's it. Hopefully that's it.

About Act Actor Because
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Are there differences between black actors' opportunities and white actors' opportunities? Yes, there are. It's been said.

Actor Been Between Black
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Twenty or 30 years from now, I'm going to be on a beach in Jamaica.

Beach Going Jamaica Now
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The English are good at bad guys - the James Bond-style villain, cunning, slow-burning. The Americans are much more obvious about it.

About American Bad Bad Guys
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The long and short of it is that I am now in a position in England to green light movies, and that's really excellent - not high-budget movies, but movies none the less.

Am England Excellent Green
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It could be Grammy night, Oscar night, whatever - I don't feel the pressure to be there.

Could Feel Grammy Night
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There's a fast-track if you can do the networking. For some personalities it works, but for mine it doesn't.

Mine Networking Personalities Some
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I love bikes. I used to own one, but I fell off it when I was younger and that was the end of my bike riding days until now.

Bike Bikes Days End
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I was into Spider Man when I was a kid and that was the only comic I've ever read.

Comic Ever Kid Man
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I tend to stay away from the comics.
Away Comics Stay Tend
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Now there are certain things you have to prepare - like dialect and special skills. But in the moment, interaction between two characters on the page doesn't need - for me, I don't need to prepare that.

Between Certain Certain Things Characters
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It was deeply important for me to understand where Mandela came from. Because we know where he was going, and that's a famous story, but who was he? Where did he come from? What was his upbringing?

Because Came Come Deeply
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I'm rebelling against being handed a career, like, 'You're the next this; you're the next that.' I'm not the next anything, I'm the first me. I can't be myself, I can't just be Idris Elba. But that's just the nature of the business.

Against Anything Being Business
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I've always had ambition, and the acting was successful and put my name on the map, but it was never the plan to stop there.

Acting Always Ambition Had
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I'm not interested in making all-black films - I come from a very diverse culture; I want to work with every type of person. I work a lot with women executives because they seem to be a lot more open minded about that and a lot more progressive in that way.

About Because Come Culture
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I want to go to Sierra Leone with something - whether it's some sort of contribution to healthcare, or to the entertainment industry. My cousin is a nurse; we are talking about opening a clinic.

About Clinic Contribution Cousin
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If you are going to call a film a 'black film' then you have to make a film that represents everyone that's black, which is almost impossible. That is why white films are not called white films, they are just called 'films.'

Almost Black Call Everyone
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You watch yourself age and it's hard to feel like a sex symbol.

Age Feel Hard Like
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I was cast in 'Thor' and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good.

About Anything Cast Casting
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I would never be fearful of any character.
Any Character Fearful Never
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I get criticized for taking roles in films like 'Ghost Rider 2', but if you look at my resume, dude, I've mixed it up as much as I can.

Criticized Dude Films Get
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I love to play different roles. That's just the kind of actor I am.

Actor Am Different Different Roles
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Idris Elba Quotes & Sayings