Idris Elba named 2018 sexiest man alive, calls it an ‘ego boost’

Idris Elba has been named the sexiest man alive by People magazine.

The British actor said he was stunned when the magazine notified him that he was the 2018 recipient of the “ego boost”.

“I was like, ‘Come on, no way. Really?’” Elba said.

“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 US 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 father is black Canadian, in 2016 – have won the title since People started the feature in 1985.

Fans have been campaigning for Elba, son of African immigrants to Britain, to take over from Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond in the lucrative movie franchise.