Josh O’Connor wanted to be a footballer.
The 30-year-old actor has made a name for himself starring in Netflix’s hit series ‘The Crown’ as Prince Charles, but has said it was never his dream to become an actor, as he originally wanted to play football professionally.
He is quoted by Britain’s Esquire magazine as saying he "wanted to be a footballer" when he was in school, but the publication claims he changed his mind when he attended a drama class with a new teacher on board.
Josh’s previous drama teacher had made the class do musicals which the actor had "no interest in", but his new teacher, named Mr Strachan, had a more serious approach.
The ‘God’s Own Country’ star added: "I wanted to pretend to be someone and make it as real as possible. Weird for a kid, I guess.
"It was amazing. [My teacher] was talking about Brecht. I’d never heard of Brecht! Or Stanislavski. All these people who took acting seriously. It wasn’t just about movie stars. It could be political. It could be important and artistic."
Josh eventually landed a spot at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he once again found himself begging the teachers to spend more time on serious acting, and less time on dance and singing.
He said: "I was a pain in the a***. Too big for my boots, probably."
When he graduated in 2011, Josh struggled to find work as an actor, and was upholding three jobs to pay the rent on a house he was staying in with nine friends from drama school.
Three years later, the tide began to turn when he landed a "tiny bit" in ‘Peaky Blinders’, before eventually getting his big break on ‘The Durrells’.
He told Esquire: "I’d just done a play at the Donmar, and it wasn’t mad money but by my standards it was kind of great, and I went straight into a tiny bit, like six lines, on ‘Peaky Blinders’, and from there I went from job to job for about three years."
The September/October issue of Esquire UK is on sale now, and the full interview with Josh O’Connor can be found at https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a33572612/josh-oconnor-interview-the-crown/