Formal Booking Requisition

Talent Dossier

Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on 6 September 1972 in the London Borough of Hackney,the only child to Winston Elba, a Sierra Leonean man who worked at the Ford Dagenham plant, and Eve, a Ghanaian woman. His parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London.Elba was raised in Hackney and East Ham and shortened his first name to "Idris" while at school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting. Elba credits The Stage with giving him his first big break. After seeing an advertisement for a play, he auditioned and subsequently met his first agent while performing in the role. In 1986, he began helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business; within a year, he had started his own DJ company with some of his friends. Elba briefly attended Barking and Dagenham College, leaving school in 1988 and winning a place in the National Youth Music Theatre after a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant.To support himself between roles in his early career, he worked in odd jobs including tyre-fitting, cold-calling and night shifts at Ford Dagenham.He worked in nightclubs under the DJ nickname "Big Driis" during his adolescence, but began auditioning for television roles in his early twenties.