Idris Elba Says he Wants to be Like Donald Glover

Words by Eboni Euniece

Idris Elba is on a takeover trail. The 46-year-old actor continues to build a growing resume.

We know him for being an actor, DJ, kickboxer, and heartthrob but he has much more to show. Recently hopping on the “Boasty” record with Sean Paul, Stefflon Don, and Wiley, Elba is breaking out his rapping talent. He’s also been on a promotion tour for his new Netflix comedy Turn up Charlie, just directed the movie, Yardie, is about to be a host on SNL, just finished filming Cats, and is set to DJ at Coachella.

In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he shouted out Donald Glover. “I want to be Donald Glover,” he says. “He’s the man. He literally does it all.” We love black men bigging up black men. There’s always a perfect opportunity for an ‘I’m trying to get like you brother moment.’ 
 “My career is more like a buffet, and I like it that way. It’s what keeps me alive and interested.”It’s not about the money” he says. He continues later in the interview saying “It’s that I watched my dad die and he and I had big plans. There was this sense of, ‘You’re going to go to America and make it, son,’ and I did and I wanted to come back and share it with him. But by that time, he wasn’t well, so I never got the chance to show him the fruits of my labor. We’d talked about all the things he could have if I made it, but then he got sick.”

Elba pauses to gather himself then he continues “It was heartbreaking, but it also grounded the f**k out of me. So, when someone tells me, ‘You’re doing a bit too much.’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to die one day. I’m going to take that last breath, and you know what I don’t want to be thinking when I do? I should’ve done that.’ “