Next BAME Actor/Actress to be made Knight or Dame

Idris Elba.

Now sure where he already sits on the honours scale at the moment, though.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (already has a CBE)
Sophie Okonedo (already has a CBE)
Arinzé Kene (already has an MBE)
Sharon D. Clarke (already has an MBE) - the fact that she’s the first (and only) performer so far to be nominated for all the 4 acting categories at the Oliviers (Best Actress, Best Actress in a Musical, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical), and won 3 of them

I was going to say this

David Oyelowo would be a contender I'd have thought. He has had a strong and diverse career

Personally I don't see Idris as being particularly deserving. He tends to play versions of same character.

It's different for actors, but Danny Boyle famously turned down a Knighthood after accepting lesser awards. His reasoning, if I remember correctly, was that it's fine to give/receive honours, but becoming Sir is more in your face than having some letters after your name, and crucially for him, he believes that part of his job as a film-maker is to be a political commentator that challenges the establishment, and the act of accepting a Knighthood would be, or at least appear to be, a conflict of interest.

I'm sure Jon Snow said similar about working journalists not accepting honours, which is fair. It will be interesting to see if he accepts anything now he's retired.

By contrast, Sir Mo Farah and Dame Kelly Holmes got their awards for being double Olympic gold medallists, which is objectively a great achievement representing Britain on the world stage. When Holmes got her DBE gold medallists were rare, let alone double gold medallists. Our greater investment into Olympic sports means we have more of them now, so there remains some judgement on the matter.

It's notable that Olympic achievements are more likely to result in gongs than achievements in the more commercial sports, such as football. Andy Murray hitting the sweet spot by winning double gold and leading GB to Davis Cup victory, as well as big tennis tour titles that bring big pay cheques. I wonder if there's a similar slant in favour of less well known theatre actors over more famous and wealthier screen actors.

Another aspect is that typically there's supposed to be a five year gap between awards, so if you accept a CBE, then it's supposed to be another five years at least before you get the DBE/KBE. Rumour has it David Beckham (OBE) turned down a CBE because he hoped they'd come back a year later with the offer of a KBE.

It's probably not official, but I remember reading something about how the five year gap is supposed to be a minimum, but they made exceptions for Olympians, because they like to give the Olympic honours in the aftermath of the Olympics. With so many of our higher profile honours now going to Olympians, it might influence how the rest of them are issued.

Age seems to be a factor, but again it depends on which industry you are in. Sporting stars do most of their world class achievements at young age, then retire. If they've achieved enough by 30 and are unlikely to achieve more, then what's the point in making them wait until they are 50? I quite like the idea of making them wait until they've retired, but that ship seems to have sailed.

According to Wikipedia, Floella Benjamin was made a Dame in 2020 for services to charity, though her OBE was for services for broadcasting. Charity usually gets a mention with most Knighthoods and Damehoods, even when the individual has been very successful in their own field.

And to throw another spanner in the works, Floella Benjamin became Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham in 2010 when she became a Life Peer for the LibDems. But that's a job title to go with a position.

There's no reason to rush the awarding of acting honours, and I think it's something of a millstone if someone becomes Sir/Dame too early in their career. Actors especially need to be able to shake off their own identity to do their job, and prominent titles make that harder.