<p id=”par-1_37″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/actors/”>Actor</a> Idris Elba has played a wide variety of roles on his <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/idris-elba-doesnt-see-movie-star.html/”>rise to movie stardom</a>. But when portraying some of his more extreme characters, Elba wondered if what he was doing could really be considered acting.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-idris-elba-didn-t-consider-what-he-did-acting-when-playing-certain-characters”>Idris Elba didn’t consider what he did ‘acting’ when playing certain characters</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Idris-Elba-Acting.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Idris Elba posing at the premiere of ‘Knuckle’ wearing a beige shirt.” class=”wp-image-3684653″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Idris Elba | Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_54″>Elba has gone out of his way to play characters that are different from his previous roles. He gained momentum by portraying the iconic Stringer Bell in the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/idris-elba-regrets-his-role-in-the-wire.html/”>hit television series <em>The Wire</em></a>. After leaving the show, it would’ve been easy for Elba to do similar characters. But he chose to branch out instead.</p>
<p id=”par-3_161″>“Playing Stringer Bell put me on the map as an actor in America. I had worked in England and I had done decent work, but getting a role on <em>The Wire </em>expanded me into the US in a way that I couldn’t have hoped for,” he once said on <a href=”https://the-talks.com/interview/idris-elba/”>The Talks</a>. “And after that, I continued to get better, bigger roles; I got to work with some really good people. So <em>The Wire </em>really shifted my career massively. But I should be adapting and trying different things, and I think throughout my career, I’ve dodged the bullet of, ‘Oh, you were great as this role, we would love to see you play that role again.’ I have been offered roles that feel very similar to other work I’ve done, and I have definitely tried to avoid those. It can be difficult for my fanbase, they are always surprised! And whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_40″>Elba’s strategy paid off, allowing him to add even more diversity to his film career. But although he set out to play a bunch of different characters, there were a few common traits he always looked for in his roles.</p>
<p id=”par-5_44″>“The roles I take tend to have that complexity, and I enjoy diving into them, because, yeah, this is therapy time. A lot of times I read something in a script and I think, ‘I’m secretly dealing with that,’” Elba once told <a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/24/idris-elba-work-to-exorcise-demons-suicide-squad-the-wire-luther”>The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-6_24″>But Elba channeled so much of his real emotions doing these characters, that he wondered if he was cheating a little when performing them.</p>
<p id=”par-7_43″>“If you’re only dealing with certain facets of your own personality, is that really acting? People sometimes tell me, ‘You were good in this or that role’, and I think, ‘You don’t realize. I was dealing with that s*** for real,’” he said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-idris-elba-once-felt-playing-villains-was-therapeutic”>Idris Elba once felt playing villains was therapeutic</h2>
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<p id=”par-8_59″>Perhaps the roles that offered him the most catharsis <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/idris-elba-felt-rather-play-bond-villain-instead-james-bond.html/”>were movie villains</a>, which Elba had portrayed quite a few times in his career. <em>The Wire</em>, <em>Beasts of No Nation</em>, and <em>The Suicide Squad</em> saw Elba exploring some morally questionable and downright despicable characters. But Elba felt these types of personalities offered a kind of release that other roles didn’t.</p>
<p id=”par-9_51″>“These people get to say things that we only think in the deepest, darkest recesses of our brains,” Elba once told <a href=”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/idris-elba-erased-ww2-taylor-swift-f4d0a7e8″>Wall Street Journal</a>. “They say horrible things and scream horrible things and get to be completely socially unacceptable. As an actor, that’s sometimes a gift, sometimes a bit of therapy.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_21″>But Elba also gave credit to the people who came up with these villainous characters to play in the first place.</p>
<p id=”par-11_36″>“When you see a really interesting bad guy, you’re going to think about the actor, but think about the <em>writer</em>,” he said. “It’s the writer who’s dark. You’ve got to give him or her a hug.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-idris-elba-revealed-he-went-to-therapy-because-of-his-unhealthy-work-habits”>Idris Elba revealed he went to therapy because of his unhealthy work habits</h2>
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<p id=”par-12_41″>As much therapy as acting might provide Elba, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/idris-elbas-beast-isnt-wild-2022-action-movie-title.html/”>the <em>Beast </em>star</a> recently confided that he sees an actual therapist for another reason. Speaking on the <em><a href=”https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes-podcast/changes-idris-elba”>Changes With Annie MacManus</a> </em>podcast, Elba shared how he used therapy to combat being a workaholic.</p>
<p id=”par-13_81″>“I’ve been in therapy the last… about a year now. It’s a lot right? In my therapy I’ve been thinking a lot about changing… like neuropaths being shifted,” Elba said. “It’s not because I don’t like myself or anything like that. It’s just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry that I’m rewarded for those unhealthy habits. I’m rewarded for them. I’m an absolute workaholic. And that isn’t great for life, generally.”</p>