Wednesday, May 4, 2011



Every now and then an actor interests me for some reason. This interest can develop into fascination which can last for a while, even a large portion of the star's career.

One of those actors is Idris Elba. Already 38-years old, Elba has worked his way through many films and television series to get himself into prominent roles such as that of the gatekeeper in Thor, Heimdall which was released this year.

He has played so many bit parts in good films such as 28 Weeks Later and Rock 'n Rolla that surely it is time for him to get a lead role.

Elba began his career in an episode of the funny British sitcom 2point4 Children, where he played a parachute instructor. He then appeared in interesting roles in Absolutely Fabulous, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Silent Witness and underrated vampire series, Ultraviolet.

Elba's best performance is arguably the one that he gave in the TV series: The Wire. That show has been rated one of the best ever crime shows in entertainment history.

Elba played Russell "Stringer" Bell, a drug kingpin in the series. Bell's character is supposed to look more intelligent by having him take economics classes at Baltimore City Community College and by maintaining a personal library. The library includes a copy of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.

He tries to legitimise his Barksdale Organisation by investing in housing properties and paying off politicians.

Elba later starred in Luther, a British series as a policeman in a lead role. He was quite powerful in Luther but he is falling into the typical Black actor role of cop or criminal. He plays both well but I hope to see him bringing a different person to our screens soon.

I have some faith that he could play the role of Superhero, Luke Cage, AKA: Power Man. Unfortunately Tyrese Gibson is attached to that role but I believe Gibson should stick to average action films like Fast Five.

Alistair Anderson

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