He made his directorial debut with Yardie 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 , he landed his first significant role on a series called Bramwell , a medical drama set in s England. In an episode of series 1, he played a central character, an African petty thief named Charlie Carter, who lost his wife to childbirth and had to figure out how to support his newborn daughter.
His first named role arrived earlier in when he was cast as a gigolo on the "Sex" episode of Absolutely Fabulous. He joined the cast of the soap opera Family Affairs [ 10 ] and went on to appear on the television serial Ultraviolet and later on Dangerfield. From to , Elba portrayed Stringer Bell in the series, perhaps his best-known role in the United States. In , Elba signed on to play the lead role of the film Daddy's Little Girls , playing Monty, a blue-collar mechanic who falls in love with an attorney helping him gain custody of his kids, and finds the relationship and his custody hopes threatened by the return of his former wife.
In August , Elba signed up to portray the title character in a reboot of James Patterson 's Alex Cross film franchise. In January , he confirmed that he would be starring in a film adaptation of Luther. Elba also starred alongside Abraham Attah in the film Beasts of No Nation , which premiered in select theatres and on Netflix. Also that year, he played the main antagonist, Krall, in the sequel Star Trek Beyond. He provides voice acting and his likeness to the character. Elba signed a deal with Apple to produce original content through his Green Door Pictures production company.
Elba has appeared in music videos for Fat Joe , [ 59 ] Angie Stone [ 60 ] and rapper Giggs He co-produced and performed on the intro to Jay-Z 's album American Gangster In , he performed on the intro to Pharoahe Monch 's album W. He had the idea to develop the music from his album Idris Elba Presents Mi Mandela into a show, which eventually resulted in a play called Tree that premiered at the Manchester International Festival in On 2 July , The Guardian published a story describing how writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley said they had been removed from the production under what they described as questionable circumstances.
Kwame Kwei-Armah joined the project in May , and rewrote part of their material. In July , he launched his record label, 7Wallace Music. The intro of the song samples a snippet from an interview by Elba.
