Early Life
Elba, an only child, was born Idrissa Akuna Elba, and shortened his first name at school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting. His father, Winston, is Sierra Leonean and worked at a Ford factory, and his mother, Eve, is Ghanaian and had a clerical job. The two met in West Africa before moving to East London. Elba grew up in East Ham, and began helping an uncle with his wedding-DJ business in 1986, and within a year he had started his own DJ company with some of his best 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, but later ended up having to do everything from tyre-fitting to cold-call advertising sales to pay the rent between roles in Crimewatch murder reconstructions. Elba was working in nightclubs under the DJ nickname Big Driis in 1991, but began auditioning for television parts in his early twenties. After a stint in the National Youth Music Theatre, Elba worked the night shift at a Ford factory in Dagenham from 1989–90. Elba started his acting career while in secondary school with encouragement from his drama teacher.
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