Actor Idris Elba has opened up about his desperate life just before he landed a role in cult drama The Wire, revealing he was broke and expecting a child.

Now a well-off movie star and Dj, the Brit admits times were very tough when he first left London and attempted to find acting work in New York.

He tells Playboy, "I lived in a van for about three months. It was a gold and brown Astra with brown velour seats. I was going through a tough time with my then-wife, and the money that I made under the table as a Dj went to make sure she was Ok.

"I'd had three or four years of unemployment, not getting acting jobs... My wife was about eight and a half months pregnant by the time I got the news I was going to be on The Wire. If I didn't get it, I was going to leave the U.S. We knew that if I didn't have acting work after my daughter was born we would be up s**t street."