Idris Elba Turns the Tables
The British actor on his DJ’ing career, new Netflix show and Coachella gig.
When coachella released its 2019 lineup poster, one name in nearmicroscopic print, buried under the likes of Weezer and Childish Gambino, confused a few people: Idris Elba. The British actor is famous for his leading role on The Wire and the BBC crime drama Luther, but few Americans know about his side career as a DJ. And for DJ Big Driis, as he once billed himself, this gig is a dream come true. “Doesn’t matter how big my name is on the poster,” he says. “This is massive for me!”
Elba hopes the Coachella set and his new Netflix series, Turn Up Charlie, in which he plays a down-on-his-luck DJ, will show how serious he is about music. The character of Charlie — who’s forced to become a nanny when his money dries up — was partially inspired by Elba’s own struggles in the Nineties, when he lived hand-to
mouth in New York while trying to score gigs at clubs. And though he now earns a nice living as an actor, he always makes time to man the tables. “DJ’ing is instant,” says Elba. “You have one job: Make people in the audience have a good time.”
Elba has released a series of EPs and an album, and right now he’s featured on a song climbing the U.K. charts called “Boasty,” rapping over a reggae beat. That doesn’t mean he’s giving up his day job. He has lead roles in a big-screen version of Cats, with Taylor Swift, and the upcoming Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. He’s also plotting a second season of Turn Up Charlie. But nothing excites him more than Coachella. “It’s the pinnacle for me as a DJ,” he says. “People might come out of curiosity, but I’m playing a two-hour set of hard, techie house music. Hopefully, they’ll be pleasantly surprised.”