Idris Elba Quotes

It's funny when people ask an actor what they want to play next, because you don't get to decide what you play. I don't know. I can only say this: I don't want to and have no interest in playing a plastic surgeon. That's for sure. I'm open to anything else.

I made a conscious decision back then that I would rather be the best actress who ever lived than the most famous one.

After I do a big movie I get offered big movies. But I always do the weirdest indie.

As actors, the great thing about our career is we get to change from role to role. I don't want to be known as "put him in the movie because he has nice abs" guy.

I'm really lucky, I have my performing career so I can continue to do personal appearances. Most actors have to do a film. But I thought I would wait until I found something I really liked.A lot of my friends feel that I'm wrong to wait. They say I should have done My Bodyguard, but I don't think so. I think I've been right.

Who would know that by playing a nerdy alien and a child killer, I would have a 30-year career in Hollywood? I've outlasted so many people.

Filming is completely - was totally new to me ... I had a movie career which wasn't supposed to be, so I couldn't be more thrilled. For those who work, parts seem to get more interesting.

Acting careers are very interesting things. They come with a lot of ups and downs. You just have to ride the waves and bide your time during the lulls, and enjoy the high times when they're there.

The careers that I admire and actually try to emulate are those of Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. Those women, to me, make amazing choices. They're sexy, beautiful women, but that doesn't dictate their choices.

It's really interesting - I wanted to become an actress when I was young because I wanted to do romantic comedy. And I did a lot of comedies very early on, but then my career took kind of a left turn with Joss Whedon, and I discovered that doing genre work is actually more interesting as an actor, because the given circumstances are more extreme. And it really is creatively more challenging.

I mean, there's obviously only one Leo [DiCaprio] but I look at guys like Mark Wahlberg and Tom Cruise and think I'd like to have that type of career... that would be really great if I could have that.

I'm an actor and I am looking for roles where I can continue to evolve, and things that are challenging. I gravitate to the roles, not necessarily television or film. It's just the fact that, for me, the most interesting roles have been in television.

I remember all the kids picking their chosen career paths and I was thinking, If I'm an actor I can be an astronaut and a policeman and a firefighter. At the time I was so young that I actually thought actors were all of those things.

I'm a lot happier in people's living rooms weekly than I think I would be if I was really, really relying on a movie career to keep me fulfilled and excited.

If you look at any of the greats, from people like Paul Newman and Robert Redford to, you know, Brad Pitt - to get any of the kinds of roles like the ones that they've gotten, or just to be a part of any of the kinds of movies they've made, would be the end-all for me.

I've learned a lot from doing the sitcom. I've learned so much about comedic timing. For all the movies I've done, I've played so many different roles. I love both, but I guess in my career maybe I want to stick more to film.

If I get the opportunity to be an actor and do some cool, fun and interesting projects, I'm going to do that.

I base the roles I choose depending on the characters. That's just how I'm gonna run my career. So if it's a good role I'm gonna take it whether it be fantasy, or whether it be realistic or fiction, anything.

I'm doing The Physicists, which is great, and I do have my agent to thank for that because a lot of agents try and talk you out of doing theatre. They don't push theatre because you can make more money doing television, whereas theatre wages are pretty shocking. But it's something I've always been keen to do and have been encouraged to do so, which is nice.

My mom, she's like Why can't you just do a nice romantic comedy like Jennifer Love Hewitt? And I'm like: Mom, look at me. They just don't put me in those movies.

I always wanted to be an actor and I'd never dreamt that not only would I be able to do this for a living, but also on top of that I'd be able to choose and steer the course of my own career.

I'm not trying to turn into Eddie Murphy, and just do kids movies the rest of my career. I'm going to still do a wide variety of movies, as well as do hardcore rap.

I can't pass on an acting career to my kids. But I'm going to try to juggle both.

Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career.

I was thinking maybe about being a lawyer. I realized I was interested in becoming a priest at one point. I was just interested in stuff where I could do something I really believed in. And then, I realized if I become an actor, I don't have to choose. I get to do everything. It's worked out so far. But what I really want to do is direct.