1. Idris Elba
![Idris Elba Idris Elba](https://media.timeout.com/images/105292060/750/422/image.jpg)
![Idris Elba Idris Elba](https://media.timeout.com/images/105292060/750/562/image.jpg)
Actor, DJ and Hackney hero
This East End boy-turned-acting god recently paid homage to his London roots with his directorial debut ‘Yardie’, a film that honours soundsystem culture, and returned to DJ at a festival in Stratford over the summer. Elba’s also spoken out against cuts to housing benefits for 18 to 21-year-olds, calling the housing crisis in the UK ‘bullshit’. He might not be James Bond (yet) but he’s a hero to us.