Idris Elba | The Wire | Charles Miner | short-lived regional manager

Idris Elba turned a lot of heads with his guest role on The Office. But his talents aren’t just limited to comedy — or to acting, for that matter.

If you’re looking to pin down Idris Elba, the star of this month’s action thriller Takers, don’t bother. The Brit can do — and has done — just about everything. He’s mastered comedy (he played short-lived regional manager Charles Miner on The Office) as well as drama (he starred in HBO’s The Wire and in the film American Gangster). But beyond acting, Elba, under the alias Driis, has also recorded a hip-hop EP and frequently DJs. The 37-year-old, who grew up in East London but now makes his home in both Los Angeles and Miami, is always up for the next challenge. He talked to American Way about his many talents.

Takers looks like the perfect summer escape. What’s the scoop?
It’s sort of a modern-day Dirty Dozen, but it’s younger — it’s got cool action sequences and cool characters. It’s a bunch of thieves that pull together and pull off a heist. I play Gordon, who’s the leader of this heist crew and a career criminal.

You’ve played a drug lord on The Wire, and you play another bad guy here. How do you humanize your characters for yourself?
I don’t think [Gordon] is a bad guy. He’s been doing this a long time, and he’s looking toward the exit sign now. He’s a thief, yes, but he’s not an evil genius or something like that. He’s not really into hurting people, but he will if he has to. Also, I chose to make him an English character, which is slightly different than the American characters.