ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua
(LOS ANGELES) — Idris Elba covers the August issue of Esquire, and inside the magazine, he gets candid about how the loss of his father forced him to reevaluate his life.
“I got to a place where I wasn’t even living anymore,” he told the magazine. “I was becoming a robot with my work.”
Elba continues, “I have no fear of jumping out of burning cars or out of buildings on set, but in reality, I couldn’t run one hundred meters. I just felt out of touch with reality.”
The actor’s father, Winston Elba, died in September 2013 after battling lung cancer.
“He was 72. Too young,” Elba said. “He had so much life in him. My old man wanted to do so much more. He just didn’t get a chance.”
Because of this, the Luther star decided to take charge of his career, choosing roles he otherwise would have declined.
“‘Fear nothing,'” Elba added, referring to the life-changing advice he was given by his father. “Do what you want to do, but be educated and intelligent and confident about it.”
The actor would go on to win two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2016 for his roles in Beasts of No Nation and Luther. Elba was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award that year.
Elba recently announced that he’ll be starring in a fifth series of Luther, which will begin filming next year. Meanwhile, he stars in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Dark Tower, due in theaters in August, and he’ll reprise his role as Heimdall in Thor: Ragnarok, which opens November 3.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.