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The London-born actor, 46, said he didn't
believe it when the magazine told him.
"I was like, 'Come on, no way. Really?'" Elba told the celebrity
publication. "Looked in the mirror, I checked myself out. I was
like, 'Yeah, you are kind of sexy today.' But to be honest, it
was just a nice feeling. It was a nice surprise — an ego boost
for sure."
One of Britain's best-known stars, Elba won a Golden Globe for
his lead role in BBC television detective series "Luther",
played a Norse god in "Thor" and appeared in U.S. television
series "The Wire."
Other actors and singers who have been given the title by the
magazine's editors in recent years include Blake Shelton, Chris
Hemsworth, Adam Levine, George Clooney and Channing Tatum.
Only two other non-white men - African-American star Denzel
Washington in 1996 and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, whose mother
is Samoan and whose father is black Canadian, in 2016 - have won
the title since People started the feature in 1985.
Fans have been campaigning for Elba, the son of African
immigrants to Britain, to take over from Daniel Craig as secret
agent James Bond in the lucrative movie franchise after the next
Bond film, due for release in 2020.
Elba in August stoked the rumors that he was set to become the
first black actor to play Bond when he posted a cryptic message
on Twitter using one of the character's best-known lines - "My
name's Elba, Idris Elba." Days later he flatly denied it was
going to happen, however.
Elba appears on the cover of a special double issue of People
that arrives on newsstands on Friday. https://people.com/sexiestmanalive2018
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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