Idris Elba revealed in a recent interview that he sold weed to comedian Dave Chappelle while the British actor struggled to make a name for himself early in his career. Elba voices Knuckles in James Marsden as Tom, Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Tails, and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik.
Elba may be a superstar at this point, but that wasn't always the case. While he'd already been acting for years in the UK, Elba's breakout role in the US didn't come until 2002 in the form of Russell "Stringer" Bell, one of the primary antagonists of HBO's drug war epic The Wire. Elba played the stoic and calculating Bell in the first three seasons of the show before his character was killed off of the critically-acclaimed series. The role helped to establish Elba's Hollywood credentials and the actor has since gone on to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast & Furious franchise, and recently The Suicide Squad, just to name a few of his impressive credits. However, while establishing himself in the industry, Elba would have to rely on side jobs to stay afloat, and at least one of them wasn't exactly above board.
While appearing on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show Elba spoke about his side hustles in the early days of his career. Besides DJ gigs and working as a doorman at Caroline's Comedy Club, Elba itted he also made some supplementary cash selling weed. And it seems like some of his clients may have been the comedy club's talent. "Dave Chappelle re me because he used to buy weed from me," Elba recalled in the interview before jokingly pivoting with an "anyway, moving on."
While Elba was quick to move the conversation along, it's unlikely to come as much of a shock to anyone that Chappelle, star of the stoner classic Half Baked, might know a weed dealer or two. The revelation could offer some insight into Elba's role on The Wire, as he played one of the most powerful drug kingpins in Baltimore. One now has to wonder if any of his past personal experiences helped inform his performance or his understanding of the character.
While Elba's distribution days are long in the past, his story makes for a fun example of future stars crossing paths in the strangest of ways. It's also indicative of the lengths he was willing to go to in order to pursue his dream of acting. Now that he's making Marvel money, however, it's unlikely Idris Elba is ever going to have to revisit those lengths.
Source: The Jess Cagle Show
