Latest Idris Elba Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• We're all human beings. Experience is experience, let's just be honest. Let's not try and dissect suffering into a race, or whatever you want to call it. We're all human beings, one way or another. All races have gone through times that are challenging; that's part of being a human.

  Idris Elba

  Challenges, Suffering, Trying

  Source: www.gq-magazine.co.uk

• There are things that I really find important, and that we need to remind ourselves of. When you think about disability, do you really think about it? Someone who's a full-time trainer or a boxer, someone who's got a major disability, but who doesn't let that get in his way, that's a really good message for someone who is able-bodied. It can make them think, 'Wow, I suppose I could be doing better for myself.'

  Idris Elba

  Thinking, Important, Disability

  Source: www.gq-magazine.co.uk

• I wanted to be on American TV so much. I didn't park DJ'ing; I just sort of ended up becoming more of a studio guy. I had a bit more money and I could buy every little piece of equipment and drum machine that had just come out - I've got quite a collection now - and I continued to collect music.

  Idris Elba

  Guy, Machines, Pieces

  Interview By Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• One of my first jobs was in a soap opera, five days a week. And what I found is, although there are different directors coming in and different crews, you just lived in your character. It's the nature of the story, the ongoing story, and it can get deeper and deeper.

  Idris Elba

  Jobs, Character, Directors

  Interview By Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• Television is where I cut my teeth.

  Idris Elba

  Cutting, Teeth, Television

  Interview with Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• You’re directing a movie, but you are at the head of a ship of people, a whole fleet of people. And being able to manage that - being able to handle yourself as a director being a leader - that’s massively important.

  Idris Elba

  People, Leader, Important

  Interview with Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• Some directors hand over portions of their movie to their head of department to the point where it's like, "I'm not going to talk to you about the costumes, but I'm going to let you talk to the expert." Rather than, "You want to talk stitching, let's talk stitching. You want to talk grade of leather? Let's."

  Idris Elba

  Hands, Directors, Experts

  Interview with Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• The directors [who know every detail] make films that are complete, basically.

  Idris Elba

  Directors, Details, Film

  Interview By Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• I've got two smoking guns that just look incredible, and I love to pull them out whenever I can.

  Idris Elba

  Gun, Two, Smoking

  Interview By Jon Favreau, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 4, 2016.

• I find that a lot of actors who are good and open to challenges have lived a full life. When you walk into an audition, you have more to say for yourself because you come from the real world. It's more enticing for directors, I think.

  Idris Elba

  Real, Thinking, Challenges

  "Idris Elba, No Stringers Attached". Interview with Amy Chozick, www.nytimes.com. September 5, 2014.

• Even when I went to America I didn't work for four years. It wasn't like I came to New York and it was the land of milk and honey. It was just as much of a hard graft. But there's a lot more opportunity nowadays across the board for actors, no matter what color you are, with the Internet and small productions.

  Idris Elba

  New York, Opportunity, Milk And Honey

  "Idris Elba, No Stringers Attached". Interview By Amy Chozick, www.nytimes.com. September 5, 2014.

• What kind of role do you play after someone like Stringer, you know what I mean? You play another gangster. What’s the point of that? I’ve played the gangster. I try to keep it really varied; it just makes for more of a fun and interesting career.

  Idris Elba

  Fun, Mean, Play

  "Idris Elba, No Stringers Attached". Interview with Amy Chozick, www.nytimes.com. September 5, 2014.

• I come from an era, in my world, where you just had to define yourself as who you are and what you do. I happen to be an actor. I happen to be someone that loves to act, that also likes music, that also likes to speak, and that also has an opinion.

  Idris Elba

  Eras, Actors, World

  "Idris Elba on ‘Luther’, Movie Possibilities, Neil Cross, His Upcoming Album, and More". Interview with Chrisitna Radish, collider.com. December 10, 2015.

• When you come from an under-privileged background, oftentimes, you feel a little overwhelmed by your education or your lack of.

  Idris Elba

  Littles, Overwhelmed, Backgrounds

  "Idris Elba on ‘Luther’, Movie Possibilities, Neil Cross, His Upcoming Album, and More". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. December 10, 2015.

• My definition of bad-ass is that I'm a force of nature and true spirit. I'm self-admitting that, and it sounds vain to say that, but I am.

  Idris Elba

  Bad Ass, Self, Sound

  "Idris Elba on ‘Luther’, Movie Possibilities, Neil Cross, His Upcoming Album, and More". collider.com. December 10, 2015.

• I love working. I'm a workaholic and I'm really privileged for some of the jobs I get offered and so I just want to keep going.

  Idris Elba

  Jobs, Want, Workaholic

  "Idris Elba Isn’t Interested In Awards, He Just Wants To Keep On Working". Interview with Leigh Blickley and Jon Strauss, on.mtv.com. December 4, 2015.

• Nobody likes a celebrity DJ for the sake of style, so I don't do that - I try to be good at what I do. It's all about resetting, it's my escape. It is work, it's a job, but I just love doing it.

  Idris Elba

  Jobs, Style, Trying

  "Idris Elba Isn’t Interested In Awards, He Just Wants To Keep On Working". Interview with Leigh Blickley and Jon Strauss, on.mtv.com. December 4, 2015.

• [Sometimes] I sit in front of my [gaming] console with my headphones on and I play. I love that. It's a nice form of escapism.

  Idris Elba

  Nice, Play, Sometimes

  "Idris Elba Isn’t Interested In Awards, He Just Wants To Keep On Working". Interview with Leigh Blickley and Jon Strauss, on.mtv.com. December 4, 2015.

• I'll always be attached to telly in one way or another, whether it's a character or producer or director, I just love the medium.

  Idris Elba

  Character, Directors, Way

  "Idris Elba Isn’t Interested In Awards, He Just Wants To Keep On Working". Interview with Leigh Blickley and Jon Strauss, on.mtv.com. December 4, 2015.

• The audience loves it when you pay attention to details.

  Idris Elba

  Details, Attention, Pay

  "Interview with Idris Elba, Zoë Saldana & Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Losers)". Interview with Alexandra Heilbron, www.tribute.ca. April 21, 2010.

• What I like about their films is that you actually feel the momentum of whatever they're shooting. So, if someone's falling out a window, it gives the opportunity to show what that might feel like.

  Idris Elba

  Fall, Opportunity, Giving

  "Comic-Con: Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba, and Directors Mark Neveldine/ Brian Taylor Interview GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE". Interview By Christina Radish, collider.com. July 27, 2011.

• I'm not a popular actor. I don't necessarily want to be famous. I want to be known for great work. I want to be known to surprise audiences.

  Idris Elba

  Actors, Want, Surprise

  "Idris Elba Talks PROMETHEUS, PACIFIC RIM, THOR 2, LUTHER Season 3, Preparing to Play Nelson Mandela and More". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. June 6, 2012.

• Actors tend to not know how their performances are going to actually be used. Even though the script says one thing, in the edit, it can be something else.

  Idris Elba

  Actors, Scripts, Used

  "Idris Elba Talks PROMETHEUS, PACIFIC RIM, THOR 2, LUTHER Season 3, Preparing to Play Nelson Mandela and More". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. June 6, 2012.

• Being able to work with Ridley Scott on this film is like being able to play on the Olympic team for actors.

  Idris Elba

  Team, Play, Actors

  "Idris Elba Talks PROMETHEUS, PACIFIC RIM, THOR 2, LUTHER Season 3, Preparing to Play Nelson Mandela and More". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. June 6, 2012.

• Television, for me, is a medium that I'm probably always going to be attached to, one way or another.

  Idris Elba

  Television, Way, Mediums

  "Idris Elba Talks LUTHER Season 3, Luther’s New Love Interest and His Relationship with Alice, Exploring a Prequel Story, and Future Seasons". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. August 28, 2013.