Is Idris Elba the first actor to play the British prime minister and American president in the same year?
With Idris Elba about to play the US President in Kathryn Bigelow’s latest nail-biter, A House of Dynamite for Netflix, it slots in nicely to his career-long habit of portraying some very important people indeed.
We’re talking the likes of Nelson Mandela, the Greek God Achilles, and also this year, the British Prime Minister. To be honest, Elba is so popular that if he ran for the job, he would probably get it.
He joins fellow acting royalty Gary Oldman as the only man or woman to star as not just the Prime Minister of the UK in a movie, but also as the American president, although Elba probably one-ups Oldman, given he has managed that feat in a single year, appearing in Ilya Naishuller’s action comedy Heads of State earlier in 2025 alongside John Cena.
One of the best bits of news about Elba is that he’ll be returning in a second season of Apple TV+’s Hijack, one of the most thrilling TV programmes in recent years. Elba was brilliant in the first run of the show that took place entirely on a captured plane as he tried to negotiate a way out for himself and the passengers on board.
Another exciting update is that he’ll also be appearing in next year’s live-action Masters of the Universe movie as Man at Arms. The fact that the film is being helmed by Travis Knight bodes well, because he has some serious quality under his belt after serving as lead animator on films like the massively overlooked Kubo and the Two Strings and Coraline. Elba is also turning director himself on a project called Infernus, the plot of which revolves around a human rights activist sent to investigate refugees held illegally in a prison, only to face the most dangerous inmates escaping.
Aside from also starring in that movie, Elba will be going orbital as he appears in a film called Above the Earth about a trio of astronauts surviving a rough re-entry to Earth but getting cut off from the rest of humanity. These productions show Elba’s versatility; he can do action, he can do comedy, and as anyone who remembers him from The Wire will attest to, he can also do serious drama better than most.
It’s why he’s seen as one of Britain’s foremost talents, with a Golden Globe, six Emmys and three Bafta nominations under his belt, a total film box office of almost $10bn and an OBE to his name for services to drama. The bloke has chops is what we’re saying basically.
Of course, he’s not just an actor; he has many strings to his bow as a DJ, rapper and record label owner – he’s even appeared on a Taylor Swift song. Aside from that, he’s also a trained mixed martial artist, making a year-long documentary on becoming a kickboxer for a pro fight, which he won against a younger and more experienced opponent.
Then there’s the motorsport; he’s invested in a Formula E team and is a certified speed freak – in fact, back in 2015, he piloted a Bentley Continental to break the record for a flying mile that had stood for almost 90 years. His foray into rally driving didn’t end quite so well, however, when he crashed during the first stage of his first proper race.
