Idris Elba is setting the foundation to become one of Hollywood's top leading men.

The British-bred former star of the acclaimed HBO series 'The Wire' has starred in film's like 'American Gangster,' 'This Christmas,' 'The Reaping,' 'Daddy's Little Girl' and 'The Gospel.'

Next the 36-year-old actor appears in Guy Ritchie's sexy new crime drama, 'RocknRolla,' as a shady character named Mumbles who is involved in the underworld of shifty dealings.

Elba believes his work ethnic and ability to deliver on set is why Ritchie, husband of music superstar Madonna, cast him in the part.

"Guy Ritchie probably had seen one episode of the 'The Wire,' but the reputation that I actually do good work and delve into all these different characters in as many shades as I can got me the job," he told me during our interview at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Despite his apparently smooth transition from TV into film, Elba believes that taking smaller parts and getting less screen time has helped him earn respectability among moviegoers.

"Understand that I come from a television background, and the transition from television to film is a long, hard process," he explained. "The people that watch film don't want to see television actors in it. For me, I had to take on five films in a very short space of time and each one had to be ensembles. And as I evolve, I am starting to do more leading roles and I am very fortunate for that. But it's definitely because I had to take a couple of steps back and play smaller roles in film."

Elba, who moonlights as deejay under the moniker of DJ Big Driis, shared that his budding career in Hollywood has been more of a natural evolution versus orchestrated execution.

"More of my career, the early part of my career chose me. I didn't choose it. I kind of was very lucky to get the parts. I think as actors, the more you get into the culture of filmmaking, the more parts and work that's available to you. I didn't choose it, it chose me," he said.

Elba was featured over the last five months in an exhibit called 'Want To See More of Me?' that was showcased at London's National Portrait Gallery. (It just closed on Sept. 21.)

In the exhibit that was photographed by Donald MacLellan, Elba along with fellow British actors like Naomi Harris, Marsha Thomason, Ashley Walters, Sophie Okonedo and Chiwetel Ejiofor aimed to raise awareness for the scarcity of roles for their peers.

"It's always great to work and I moved away from England ten years ago and most of my work is in America. It's a combination of things as to why there aren't as many roles. I think there is a combination of the parts are not being written. There are five channels out there as to 900 in America. There's a lot less work and a lot less writing. Maybe there's an element of our stories, our African stories and African-American stories, if you like, not being more celebrated in England. I really applaud the campaign that you are talking about. I took part in it. It was a good way to sort of highlight the fact that there are not just black actors, but Asian actors and other minorities that aren't represented as well in film and TV. There's an evolution that's changing," he closed.

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'RocknRolla' also stars Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Jeremy Piven, Toby Kebbell and Tom Wilkinson.

The movie opens in limited release on Oct. 8 and goes nationwide on Oct. 31.