I get criticized for taking roles in films like Ghost Rider 2, but if you look at my résumé, dude, I've mixed it up as much as I can.

The role of my agent has just been to get me in the room. If I can get in the room - say the character is just a charming man who lives next door - then I'll walk in there and be as charming as I can and they will think to themselves, 'I don't see why we can't cast him.

In some countries, no one knows who Idris Elba is.

When you come from an under-privileged background, oftentimes, you feel a little overwhelmed by your education or your lack of.

I knew that if I wanted to be all I could be, I would have to go to the US. It took three years to get the accent right.

There are things that I really find important, and that we need to remind ourselves of. When you think about disability, do you really think about it? Someone who's a full-time trainer or a boxer, someone who's got a major disability, but who doesn't let that get in his way, that's a really good message for someone who is able-bodied. It can make them think, 'Wow, I suppose I could be doing better for myself.'

There has been a big debate about it: can a black man play a Nordic character?