IDRIS & SABRINA ELBA FOR TIME100
YOU. STUDIO recently welcomed Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba for a shoot with TIME, photographed by Kendall Bessent for TIME100 Philanthropy 2026.
Captured against a considered set by Murdo Hepburn, the shoot brought together a multidisciplinary creative team to create the imagery accompanying TIME’s feature on the couple and their work across philanthropy, business and the creative industries.
TALENT: @idriselba @sabrinaelba
PHOTOGRAPHER: @kendallbessent
SET DESIGNER: @murdohepburn
ART ASSISTANT: @aaronrigal
ART ASSISTANT: @blueborley
FLORALS: @pollenet
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: @daliughetto
LIGHTING: @typical_ianblax
DIGI: @oli.stockwell
PRODUCER: @claudiarbarlow
SABRINA HAIR + MUA: @joekelllz & @naimabremer
SABRINA STYLIST: @reeree.f
IDRIS GROOMING: @jdebruyne
IDRIS STYLIST: @cheryl_konteh
STYLING ASSISTANTS: @hannnahmill @chloedowson_
The Elbas are as effortlessly cool as they are disarmingly charming, bringing their infectious energy to the set, cracking jokes and bouncing off each other as we discuss their shared philanthropy. By the time we sit down for our interview, Elba, 53, allows himself a yawn. It’s no wonder he’s tired. He’s in the middle of reviving one of his best-known characters, for the sequel to the 2023 movie Luther: The Fallen Sun. The couple are also auditing their business and philanthropic ventures to assess how to run them most efficiently. Elba has a film and TV company named 22Summers, a marketing agency called SillyFace, and record label Sound International, to name a few other projects. Together the couple also have a skin-care brand called S’ABLE Labs.
One way the Elbas are making that happen is through their foundation’s Creative Futures program, which helps marginalized young people in U.K. inner cities join creative industries such as music, theater, visual arts, and media. The program is a partnership with King Charles III’s youth-focused charity, the King’s Trust.
Elba has his own long history with the charity. When he was a teenager, he received a £1,500 ($2,023) grant from the then Prince’s Trust, which helped support his acting studies and cover living costs when he played the role of Chicago gangster Big Jule in a semi-professional global tour of Guys and Dolls with the National Youth Music Theatre. He has since worked with King Charles on the anti-knife-crime initiative, and, in January, the British government announced Elba would receive a knighthood in recognition of his philanthropy and campaigning. His investiture ceremony will take place in the early summer, according to a spokesperson for the King.
