Idris Elba has long been respected as an actor—and seen as one of Hollywood's hottest men, but there was one particular event not too long ago that finally made him feel "super famous."
In 2016, the British star co-hosted the Met Gala, where he met up with top female singers, including Beyoncé, who had played his wife in the 2009 thriller Obsessed. Elba talked about the event on an episode of the First We Feast food blog's Hot Ones YouTube series, posted on Thursday.
"I had Lady Gaga coming up to me, Rihanna, Beyoncé, coming up to me, shaking my hand," the actor said. "I felt super famous. And [Met Gala co-chair and Vogue Editor-in-Chief] Anna Wintour, bless her heart, she championed me as someone who should host it."
"Half the people didn't even know who I was," he continued. "They're like, 'Who? Oh, OK, he was on The Wire, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. My dad's seen that. It was great, apparently. Great."
Elba began acting on-screen in 1994 in his native Britain and got his big break in the U.S. when he started playing Russell "Stringer" Bell on HBO's The Wire in 2002.
In 2009, the year he appeared in the film with Beyoncé, Elba started performing a recurring role on The Office. In 2010, he began playing DCI John Luther on the British TV show Luther, his leading breakout role, which earned him a Golden Globe. He also stars on the new Netflix series Turn Up Charlie, which he co-created.
Meanwhile, Elba's movie career has flourished in recent years. He played Heimdall in the Thor and Avengers movies, and he starred in Prometheus, Pacific Rim, Star Trek Beyond, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Beasts of No Nation, the last of which earned him a SAG Award.
Starting this Friday, he can be seen in Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw. Later this year, he has another big movie coming out: the first big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Cats.