Idris Elba was born in London, England on 6 September 1972. His father, Winston, was a Sierra Leonean who worked in the Ford motor factory at Dagenham, and his mother, Eve, was a Ghanaian who had a clerical job. Elba's parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London. Elba himself was raised in East Ham and shortened his first name from Idrissa to Idris at school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting. He credits The Stage with giving him his first big break; having seen an advertisement for a play in the newspaper, Elba auditioned and 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 left school in 1988 and won a place in the National Youth Music Theatre, thanks to a £1,500 Prince's Trust grant. His first roles were in Crimewatch murder reconstructions.To support himself between roles in Crimewatch reconstructions, he worked in jobs such as tyre-fitting, cold call advertising sales, and the night shift at Ford Dagenham. He was working in nightclubs, under the DJ nickname Big Driis, at age 19, but began auditioning for television roles in his early twenties.
