Idris Elba Had To Hide His Accent To Land His Career Defining TV Role

Idris Elba‘s crisp British accent has become one of the actor’s defining traits — and he deploys it skilfully whenever he gets to play a Brit on screen. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, to land his career-launching role as Stringer Bell in David Simon‘s epic crime masterpiece, “The Wire,” Elba was advised by a casting director to keep his accent a secret during his audition, according to a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Elba followed that advice, knowing Simon had already hired an English actor for the show’s lead role, with Dominic West cast as Detective Jimmy McNulty.