Idris Elba just made history. The actor of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian descent is the first man to have a solo cover on the magazine Maxim. Maxim is known for featuring scantily clad women and caters to a young male audience, but they are mixing it up for this issue. The magazine’s September issue is being called the “Legit Issue.” Other men being featured include A$AP Rocky, Gay Talese, and Fetty Wap.
An Easy Decision
There were many deserving men to choose from, but for editor-in-chief Kate Lanphear the choice was easy. Elba was the obvious cover model in her mind,
“There was no one else in the world more badass than Idris,” she says. “For me, he was really the perfect embodiment of what I think the new Maxim man is. He’s multi-dimensional, he’s complex, he’s sophisticated, but he’s down to earth.”
{adinserter CNP5}
Big Plans For The Actor
Elba is involved in television, movies, and music. He is known for playing Russell “Stringer” Bell in the HBO series The Wire, Detective John Luther in the BBC One series Luther, and Nelson Mandela in the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. He has been in the movies American Gangster, Takers, Thor, Prometheus, Pacific Rim, and Thor: The Dark World. He also is a DJ under the stage name DJ Big Driis. He is quite accomplished in all fields: he has been nominated three times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film and he has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award four times. Next month, Elba will portray the charismatic commandant of an African child army in Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation. He is sure to reveal more once the September issue of Maxim comes out.
SEE ALSO: The 10 Richest Movie Stars. Discover The Golden Screen.
