Idris Elba didn’t just become an actor. He has become a force. From “The Wire” to “Luther” to “Beasts of No Nation” to “The Jungle Book” to “Thor.” He has been involved in some of the most popular and culturally significant productions in both television and film.
He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. He has been one of the most charismatic and versatile artists working in any medium for two decades. He did a gritty crime drama. He made a psychological thriller. He did the work. He did the animation. It has gone from the stages of east London to the biggest screens in Hollywood without ever losing its raw character and authenticity that made people stop and take notice in the first place.
He built his career against the odds, financing his move to America, sleeping in a van on occasion, and taking auditions before the world could learn what he already knew about himself. Through it all, he held a belief that most people talk about, but very few live by. Therefore, he once said: “I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to fall and make a mistake. That’s often what paralyzes people when they first get into anything.”
Quote of the day By Idris Elba
“I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to fall down and make a mistake. That’s often what paralyzes people when they first get into anything.”Idris Elba said this in May 2016 during a motivational campaign video for British drinks brand Purdey’s. He was the lead ambassador for their “Thrive On” campaign, sharing personal life philosophies on ambition, work ethic and overcoming the fear of failure.
This was not a written promotional line designed to sell a product. This was Idris Elba speaking from real experience about the one thing that stops most people before they even start.
Not a lack of talent. Not a lack of opportunities. He is afraid. Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of looking foolish. Fear of trying and failing in front of the world. He knew this fear firsthand. He’d lived in its shadow long enough to understand it.
And then he deliberately and consciously chose to stop letting her make his decisions for him.
What does it actually mean?
Idris Elba identifies something most people never say out loud even though they feel it every day. The thing that stops people is rarely the lack of ability. It is the presence of fear. Specifically, fear of failure. Fear that if you try and don’t succeed, something irreversible will happen. That you will be exposed.
That you will be judged. That the attempt itself will somehow cost you more than not trying at all.This fear is what Elba calls a disruptive force. And he’s exactly right about where to hit. Not mid-flight. And not at the last hurdle. in the beginning. Before a single step is taken. That’s when fear does its most effective work. It doesn’t have to stop you midway. He just needs to convince you not to start.
And for most people, in most situations, it works.What Elba describes is a conscious decision to separate failure from identity. When you’re afraid of failure, what you’re really afraid of is what failure says about you. That you are not good enough. You don’t belong. That you were foolish to try. But when you honestly stop being afraid of failure, and when you accept that falling down and making mistakes is just part of the process of doing anything, the whole equation changes.
Trying becomes possible. The beginning becomes possible.He did not arrive in America with a guaranteed career waiting for him. He arrived with faith and a willingness to make as many mistakes as it took. He tested the parts and didn’t get them. He was struggling financially. Keep moving forward anyway. Eventually, he auditioned for The Wire and gave a performance as Stringer Bell that people are still talking about two decades later.
None of this would happen without the mindset he described.
None of this would happen if he allowed the fear of failure to make his decisions for him.
Who is Idris Elba?
Idris Elba was born on September 6, 1972 in Hackney, London, to a Sierra Leonean father and a Ghanaian mother, and grew up to become one of the most recognized and internationally acclaimed artists of his generation. He discovered his passion for acting as a teenager, studied at the National Youth Musical Theatre, and began building his career through small television roles in British productions throughout the 1990s.Determined to break into the American market, he made the bold decision to move to New York, financing the trip himself and taking whatever work he could find, including night work as a truck driver and janitor, to keep himself afloat while pursuing auditions. This perseverance led to his breakthrough role as the intelligent and highly complex drug dealer Stringer Bell on The Wire, a performance widely regarded as one of the greatest in television history.What followed was a career of remarkable scope. He starred as Detective John Luther in the BBC series “Luther,” for which he received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He gave a devastating performance in “Beasts of No Nation” and received widespread attention. He appeared in the films “Thor,” “Prometheus,” “Pacific Rim,” “The Jungle Book,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Fast and Furious,” and “The Suicide Squad.”
Aside from acting, he has built a serious career as a DJ and musician, performing at major festivals and events all over the world.
