From Idris Elba to Mick Jagger – Celebrity Arsenal Fans and Famous People That Support The Gunners

Although Liverpool and Manchester United regularly do battle for the title of being the country’s most successful football club, Arsenal are in the conversation when it comes to the team that does the capital most proud. There is a decent chunk of opposition to that title, of course, with Chelsea having added countless trophies to their cabinet during the Roman Abramovich era. Even so, there is something about the Gunners that makes them appealing to well-known names, attracting celebrities along to the Emirates on a regular basis.

Here is a look at some of the most recognisable names that follow Arsenal, with the list hardly being exhaustive but still likely to give you a good sense of what to expect from celebrity supporters of the Gunners.

Idris Elba

Sir Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on the sixth of September 1972 in Hackney, London. That means that there is an argument that Arsenal was his local football team when he was growing up, before he made a name for himself as Stringer Bell in the TV series The Wire.

Such is the level of his devotion to the Gunners that he even took an iPad on stage with him when he did an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, who is a West Ham United supporter, so that he could continue to watch the match whilst answering questions.

Keir Starmer

The problem with politicians is that they seem to pick and choose sides on a given topic, flip-flopping depending on whether or not they feel that it would be politically advantageous for them. Of course, you can’t do that when it comes to which football team you love.

Having stabbed Jeremy Corbyn in the back in order to gain the Labour leadership, Sir Keir Starmer probably wouldn’t have been too happy if he ended up seeing the former leader of the party at the Emirates, but then Corbyn is unlikely to have taken any hospitality seats…

Colin Firth

Colin Firth was born in Hampshire, so there was no natural tie for the actor to turn to a particular football team to follow. It might well have been due to him being cast in the film Fever Pitch, in which he played an obsessive Arsenal fan, that led him to the Gunners.

Regardless of how he got there, the actor of films like Bridget Jones’ Diary, Pride and Prejudice and Kingsman: Secret Service very much loves Arsenal and can often be seen heading down to the Emirates in order to get behind the team, presuming he isn’t meant to be filming something.

Daniel Kaluuya

Ugandan-British actor Daniel Kaluuya was born in Camden Town, being brought up on a council estate and getting his first acting credit in Shoot the Messenger, a BBC drama. He went on to become better known for appearances in Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Black Panther.

The latter saw him become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, much like his fellow Arsenal supporter Idris Elba. If there was any doubt about his love of the Gunners, it will almost certainly have been dispelled by the fact that he did the voice-over for All Or Nothing: Arsenal, the series for Amazon Prime.

Sam Mendes

Another famous Arsenal supporter, another ‘Sir’. In this case, Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes, who won an Oscar for his direction of American Beauty, which was actually his directorial debut on film. He shares a box at the Emirates with the writer Jez Butterworth, proving his Gunners-loving credentials.

In some ways, it was a good job that he had stopped making a film with Liverpool supporter Daniel Craig when Arsenal and the Merseyside club went head-to-head for the title in the 2024-2025 season, given the fact that he will have been disappointed when the Reds came out on top.

Daisy Ridley

During an interview on the red carpet for one of the Star Wars films that she was in, she was asked if she would consider ‘going to the Dark Side’ if it meant that Arsenal could ‘win some silverware’, to which she replied, “No, because good footballers can do it themselves.”

In spite of the fact that she readily admits to having been a ‘lifelong fan’ of the Gunners, she has also been quick to admit that she ‘knows nothing about football’. Rival fans aren’t shy in saying that that probably helps to explain why it is that she started following Arsenal in the first place…

Mick Jagger

There aren’t many people who can get away with saying that they support both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, but that’s what Sir Michael Philip Jagger claimed in an interview back in the 1960s. That is because he was brought up south of the river, but then his friends began supporting Spurs, so he did too.

As one of the most famous singers in one of the biggest rock groups of all time, he gets the right to support whoever he wants. Of course, the likelihood is that he realised the error of his ways, which is why in more recent times he was only ever seen cheering on the Gunners.

Piers Morgan

There are countless celebrities that many of the supporters of a football club wish they could disown, with Piers Morgan likely to be close to the top of the list for Arsenal fans. Even so, the journalist and presenter doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to his love of the Gunners.

Perhaps even Morgan’s dad will have been disappointed with his choice of club, given the fact that he supported Tottenham, but he chose to become a Gooner instead. The club won the double in 1971 when he was a six-year-old, cementing a love of them from that point on.

Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie was born in Oxford in 1959, making a name for himself as part of a double act with Stephen Fry as well as being in Blackadder, House and The Night Manager, to name but a few of his countless credits as an actor and comedian.

It isn’t even as though he’s only a fan in passing, regularly sending out tweets about the club on the platform formerly known as Twitter, which are often quite funny. When the Gunners lost to Swansea in 2014, for example, he said, “I don’t mind Arsenal losing to Swansea. At all. I only watch the Premiership because I wanted to do something nice for Barclays.”

Alan Davies

Best known for his work as a stand-up comedian and presenter, but really hitting the heights when he played the title character in Jonathan Creek, Alan Davies was born in Essex, so his support of Arsenal was always likely… He used to host an Arsenal-themed podcast called ‘It’s Up For Grabs Now’.

That then saw him move to another podcast called ‘The Tuesday Club’, which is also Arsenal-focussed. He angered Liverpool supporters when he said that the club’s refusal to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster resulted in him saying it ‘gets on my tits’.

Laura Woods

Born in Dagenham on the second of July 1987, Laura Woods’ career began when she was a runner for Sky Sports, soon after presenting the darts before eventually ending up as one of the main presenters on TNT Sports, where she hosted matches including ones featuring her beloved Arsenal.

Whether that was a difficult thing for her to do or not has never been clear because of her professionalism, but there has never been any doubt about what team she supports. She has often taken to social media to express her love of the Gunners, as well as challenged guests when they’ve been disparaging of her team.