10/23/2025
He was AWESOME in The Wire which is the best tv show ever made.
I learned everything I know about communication, community and cons from The Wire.
Hey I’ve got a great idea for a reprise. Call me. My number is in the book. I might pitch it to , who lives locally. And Idris Elba, if you’d like a role, call my attorney or reach out to my website.
There is a reason that the final words of Howard’s End are “only connect.” It’s even more true these days with the internet.
But face to face connection is far superior to any digital connection. Did you hear that, scammers?
Hey scammers, did you get the memo? I can’t be scammed by handymen or online scammers either. I don’t fall for false promises. What I’ve learned from Bodie is that the first thing to ask for is a lawyer and I’ve got several. They are coming after you all.
Before Hollywood knew his name, Idris Elba was just a hungry dreamer from the rough streets of East London — a boy with big dreams and empty pockets. His parents had come from Sierra Leone and Ghana, hoping for a better life. Idris grew up watching them work endlessly, learning early what struggle meant. “We didn’t have much,” he once said, “but we had hope — and that was enough to keep me going.”
He worked night shifts at a Ford factory, DJed weddings under the name Big Driis, and sometimes slept in his van because he couldn’t afford rent. “I remember nights when I’d look up at the ceiling of that van and think, ‘Is this it? Is this where my dream ends?’” But it didn’t. When he finally scraped together enough money, he flew to New York chasing the impossible. No green card. No friends. No safety net. Just faith.
For months, he lived out of his car, hustling pool halls and begging for auditions. One night, broken and tired, he called home from a payphone. “Mum, I can’t do it anymore,” he said. His mother’s voice came calm and steady: “You didn’t come this far to turn around.” That one line lit a fire that’s still burning.
A week later, he landed a small role on Law & Order — three lines, but it felt like a miracle. Then came The Wire. The producers didn’t want a British actor, so Idris hid his accent, lived as an American, and never broke character. “I had to make them believe,” he later said. When they finally discovered he was from London, Stringer Bell was already legendary.
From there, he climbed every mountain — Luther, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Beasts of No Nation, Thor. He became the man Hollywood once said he could never be.
Yet, through it all, Big Driis still spins records behind a DJ booth, smiling at the crowd that once would’ve never looked his way.
“I didn’t break into Hollywood,” he once said with a grin. “I slipped through the cracks — and I’m not leaving.”
Idris Elba’s story isn’t just about success. It’s about refusing to give up when the world tells you no.
