Britain’s Idris Elba, best known for “The Wire” and “Thor,” takes on the role of Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela in this month’s “Long Walk to Freedom.” He joins a long line of distinguished actors who jumped at the chance to play one of the 20th century’s truly iconic figures. Among the others:
Terrence Howard in “Winnie Mandela” (2013)
Nelson is a secondary character in this dramatization of the story of his radical wife, played by Jennifer Hudson.
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (2009)
Freeman scored an Oscar nomination for playing Mandela after his 1990 release from prison, when he struggled to keep the peace as the country’s first black president.
Dennis Haysbert in “Color of Freedom,” also known as “Goodbye Bafana” (2007)
A drama about the relationship between Mandela and the racist white prison guard (Joseph Fiennes) whose association with the inmate changed his views for the better.
Sidney Poitier in “Mandela and de Klerk” (1997)
Fellow Oscar winner Michael Caine costars as South Africa’s last white president, F.W. de Klerk, in a drama about the negotiations to end apartheid rule.