Idris Elba Confesses To Selling Weed To Dave Chappelle In The Early Days Of His Career

Becoming a successful, booked, and busy working actor is an arduous journey, and dashingly handsome Idris Elba was not immune to this harsh reality as an up-and-coming thespian. 

Elba appeared on The Jess Cagle Show to promote his latest animation movie, Sonic The Hedgehog 2. He spoke about his early years in his acting career when he moved to the United States and the sort of odd jobs he had before landing paid gigs, Entertainment Weekly reports. 

“In that time period I did a lot of things, some things I’m not proud of, but I did a lot of things,” vaguely said Elba.  

Host Cagle pressed him to elaborate on the unsavory details of his past, which Elba caved and admitted, “I used to sell weed. Can I say that on the show?” according to Entertainment Weekly.

Cagle reassured that his admission was permitted on the show and added that if the Harder They Fall actor wanted to resume the business again, he could since selling weed is now legal in California since 2016, The Guardian reports. 

“I did that for a little bit just to, you know, help pay the way. I DJ’ed quite a bit. I was a doorman. I was a doorman at Carolines comedy club [in New York], which is fascinating now, when I meet the comedians that you kind of remember the English guy. Tall English guy with the funny accent and the little hair,” recalls Elba, according to Entertainment Weekly.

One of his clients was comedian Dave Chappelle, “He remembers me ’cause he used to buy weed from me,” said the actor. “Anyway, moving on. Yeah, I did all kinds of things to be honest, all kinds of things.”  

Elba eventually landed his breakout role as Stringer Bell, the cunning drug dealer on the sleeper hit HBO drama series The Wire that premiered in 2002, Rotten Tomatoes reports. 

However, the role that his fans are clamoring for the British actor to take on is to become the next James Bond. Elba initially expressed interest in the role and now pushes back on the idea citing that he’s too old to play the highly-esteemed spy character.

“I am 50 this year. Let’s say you sign up for three films – nobody wants to see Bond giving chase or beating up guys when he is 60,” Elba points out. “I am probably too old to take on the role now.”

However, he would consider playing an antagonist part in the well-respected film franchise, “If there was a chance to be involved and the role was right for me, why not? It would be incredible to be a Bond villain,” Elba reportedly said to the British tabloid The Sun.