Idris Elba reflects on how his father's death affected him: 'I was becoming a robot'

— -- Idris Elba is getting candid about how the loss of his father forced him to reevaluate his life.

"I got to a place where I wasn't even living anymore," he said in the August issue of Esquire. "I was becoming a robot with my work."

"I have no fear of jumping out of burning cars or out of buildings on set, but in reality, I couldn't run one hundred meters. I just felt out of touch with reality," Elba, 44, continued.

The actor's father, Winston Elba, died in September 2013 after battling lung cancer.

"He was 72. Too young," Elba said in the magazine. "He had so much life in him. My old man wanted to do so much more. He just didn't get a chance."

Because of this, Elba decided to take a hold of his career, choosing roles he otherwise would have declined.

"Fear nothing," the actor said, referring to the life-changing advice he was given by his father. "Do what you want to do, but be educated and intelligent and confident about it."

The actor would go on to win two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2016 for his roles in "Beasts of No Nation" and "Luther." Elba was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award that year.