Overview
- The New Year Honours named the 53-year-old actor a knight for his work supporting young people across the UK.
- Elba founded Don’t Stop Your Future and urged bans on machetes and zombie knives, met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in 2024 to help launch an anti-knife-crime coalition, and fronted the BBC documentary Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis.
- He co-founded the Elba Hope Foundation with Sabrina Dhowre Elba to fund projects focused on education, economic opportunity and entrepreneurship.
- In 2024 the foundation partnered with The Prince’s Trust on Creative Futures, providing free creative-industry courses for young people not in work, education or training.
- Elba said he accepted the title on behalf of the young people his foundation supports, with coverage also noting honourees such as Ellie Goulding, Sarina Wiegman and Warwick Davis.