Idris Elbamay play a genie in his latest fantastical film, but there’s one wish he wouldn’t have granted himself: instant success.
“I’m so fortunate to have the life I have now,” Elba tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “It has been, though, the hardest and toughest journey. Back then, I would’ve wished to get here quicker without having to go through some of the trauma.”
Still, theThree Thousand Years of Longingactor has no regrets about his longer path to stardom. “I don’t think at this junction I would appreciate the way I am now having not gone through that journey. I really do think that all the things that I have I would’ve wished for as a young man, it wouldn’t be the same if I got it [back then].”
“When you meet someone and you become a close long friend instantly, it’s pretty magical,” says Swinton. “And I really feel this about Idris. He really feels like a brother.”
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Offscreen, the 49-year-old British star has built an impressively diverse film roster, jumping from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as Heimdall) to the DC Universe (asThe Suicide Squad’sBloodsport) to powerful dramas likeConcrete CowboyandBeasts of No Nation.
But the former Sexiest Man Alive has been open about the hardships he faced earlier in his career, which launched with critically acclaimed roles on television shows likeThe WireandLuther.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
In 2013, Elba called those early years a “wickedly tough time” in an interview withPlayboy, revealing he experienced homelessness, living in a van “for about three months.”
Fast-forward, and the Golden Globe winner has released three movies this summer alone:Longing,BeastandThor: Love & Thunder, in which he had a surprise cameo.
In April, the star celebrated three years of marriage with Sabrina Dhowre, with whom he launched an Audible relationship podcast calledCoupledom. He is also dad to daughter Isan, 20, and son Winston, 8, from past relationships.
And Elba — who began spinning records as a teenager and memorably DJ-ed at Coachella and atPrince HarryandMeghan Markle’s wedding after-party — still finds solace in music.
In his time off, “I go into my music studio and I open my laptop. I don’t know what I’m about to make, but I’m going to make some music. That’s like my love language right there,” he says.
Three Thousand Years of Longingis in theaters Friday.
For more on Elba and Swinton, pick up this week’s issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
