Idris Elba is a world class movie star, a British national but his ancestry is traced to Sierra Leone and Ghana.
Full name Idrissa Akuna Elba, he was born on September 6, 1972 in London to Winston Elba, a Sierra Leonean man, and Eve Elba, his Ghanaian mother.
His parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London.
Elba was raised in London and shortened his first name to “Idris” at school, where he first became involved in acting.
He is credited with a number of world class movies including the Beast of No Nation, which was filmed in Ghana and marked the beginning of Ghana’s Abraham Atta’s rise to stardom.
Beast of No Nation, a 2015 American war drama film followed a young boy [Abraham Atta] who became a child soldier as his country experienced a horrific civil war.
Shot in Ghana and starring Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Ama K. Abebrese, Grace Nortey, David Dontoh, and Opeyemi Fagbohungbe, the film was based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Uzodinma Iweala, the book itself being named after a Fela Kuti album.
Elba has visited Ghana a number of times and last week, he was in town, called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and was also at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on Sunday to pay homage to the occupant of the Golden Stool, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
source: graphic.com
