Dev Patel’s heartthrob status is "very overwhelming".
The ‘Lion’ star admits he finds it "strange" when people say they fancy him as he was an "awkward outsider" growing up and never had a girlfriend when he was in school.
He said: "It’s very overwhelming and strange because I’ve always been the dude that never got a girlfriend in school. I was kind of the awkward outsider. So not that it’s changed much but I’m still the same. I feel the same."
And the 26-year-old actor – who recently made the history books by becoming the first Indian actor to get a nomination in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category at the Academy Awards – is "overwhelmingly grateful" for all the good things that have happened to him recently.
He added: "Isn’t that insane! I feel so overwhelmingly grateful. I don’t know why I’m the recipient of so much luck and love. But it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. I’m just grateful."
Meanwhile, Dev admits a lot has changed since he starred in his breakout role in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ nearly ten years ago and quipped he would like to "go back to that place of innocence".
He told Entertainment Tonight: "I was beautifully unaware of everything back then and now I’ve come through it a couple times. It’s more complex. It’s more emotions in my head. I actually would like to go back to that place of innocence."
And Dev previously likened himself to a "celery stick" and revealed how meeting ‘Lion’s director Garth Davis "changed him completely".
He explained: "I always felt like a goofy celery stick … I was a tiny twig, with short hair. Completely different to what Garth [Davis] changed me into.
"Garth would say, ‘We need to make you more alpha and get your facial hair growing.’ So I moved differently, I felt differently in my clothes and all these kind of things."
Dev Patel ‘overwhelmed’ by heartthrob status
