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" I think there's a tendency for actors like myself, and I don't mean to generalize myself, but I've played 'men's men,' if you will, characters that are simmering rage and calculated. There's a trend not to play anything that is opposed to that. "

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" I love bikes. I used to own one, but I fell off it when I was younger and that was the end of my bike riding days until now. "

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" I'm a little sheepish about it. Whenever I meet fans and they're like, 'Oh, you're so sexy,' I just don't get that. There's no way one man can be universally sexy. "

" I was on a well-beaten path of actors - what we all call 'the Law and Order route'. I spent two years of auditioning for everything... and then 'The Wire' came up. "

" Africans, we hold on to our youths and whip them into shape. "

" Now there are certain things you have to prepare - like dialect and special skills. But in the moment, interaction between two characters on the page doesn't need - for me, I don't need to prepare that. "

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" If I was gonna go to jail, I don't want to go to jail for stealing a bottle of water. I'll steal that $20 million. At least then it was worth it. "

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Want

" I don't get recognised that much yet in London, but when I do I get a real sense of achievement. "

" Not obsessed with particularly Nike, but sneakers in general. I love them. "

" You watch yourself age and it's hard to feel like a sex symbol. "

" People expect me to be that guy. But I'm more east London boy than east Baltimore. "

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" I was really ambitious, so I was innovative. I was one of the first DJs to do live calls, 'cause I found this phone device that would pick up other people's voices. "

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" The English are good at bad guys - the James Bond-style villain, cunning, slow-burning. The Americans are much more obvious about it. "

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Good

" I've always had ambition, and the acting was successful and put my name on the map, but it was never the plan to stop there. "

" White actors still get way more money in Hollywood. It's been that way for a very long time. I hope it'll change, but it's a matter of forcing that change. "

" You know, film is the ultimate goal in an actor's career. I mean, I still love TV. I have my feet firmly stamped in it. But my opportunities have been bigger and better. "

" I've been DJing mostly, and most DJs end up producing. That's just me. "

Idris Elba

Been

Most

" I don't have a place that I call home at the moment because there's no point. I mean, I'm a traveling circus for a while. It's weird. Like, if I wanted to go home, there's nowhere to go. I just go to a hotel. But I've kind of gotten used to it. "

" The role of my agent has just been to get me in the room. If I can get in the room - say the character is just a charming man who lives next door - then I'll walk in there and be as charming as I can and they will think to themselves, 'I don't see why we can't cast him.' "

" Sean Connery wasn't the Scottish James Bond and Daniel Craig wasn't the blue-eyed James Bond. So if I played him, I don't want to be called the black James Bond. "

" There's the argument that you can relate to someone who's completely unrelatable. In the way that a director shows you his imagination on a film, then I get to show you my imagination in a big dumb character. "

" I was always a real athletic kid. Then when I got older, I just figured it was part of life to keep training. "

" In some countries, no one knows who Idris Elba is. "

" Because I was big, I didn't have to listen to anyone doubting me. I was just considered good at football or whatever, there were no questions about it. "

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" Apparently, Daniel Craig said I'd be a great Bond. Daniel, why did you say that? Dropped me right in it! What an honor it would be, but also, what an indication of change. "

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" I've never had to explain 'Prometheus' to people, ever. Most people get it. "

" If you go to Africa and you're white, you're probably not going to get that much work either. But the fact is that there is a longer history of black integration in the U.S. I don't have any resentment about this: I did the maths, calculated it against my ambition and decided to leave England. "

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" I tend to stay away from the comics. "

" I knew that if I wanted to be all I could be, I would have to go to the U.S. It took three years to get the accent right. "

" I have one of these bodies. When I was younger, I could never put weight on, and now that I'm a little older, there's a natural sort of chubbiness coming. But honestly, if I work out for a week, it drops off in no time. "

" Whether it's music or acting, that creativity all comes from the same source. "