Richard Madden was "completely broke" before he got his big break on 'Game of Thrones'.
Richard Madden
The 32-year-old Scottish actor has opened up about how he was dirt poor and on the verge of giving up on his acting dream when he got the call to say he'd landed the part of Robb Stark in the HBO fantasy series, which meant he didn't have to leave London and move back to his family home near Glasgow.
Madden - who appeared in 21 episodes of the show from 2011 to 2013 - told Jackal magazine: "I'm not bullsh***ing you - I was completely broke. I used my savings to pay my last month's rent and that was it. I thought, 'After this, I don't have any money. I'll have to move back to my parents.' "
When he was auditioning for acting jobs the screen heartthrob lived on a budget of just £3.70 a day for food and used to eat cheap cuts of chicken and basic pasta and sauce.
The 'Bodyguard' actor's experience of poverty means he would not hesitate to accept a role just for the money and he is open to using his star status to take on well-paid parts in order to free himself up to take on indie projects.
He said: "Nothing wrong with the money job. We all have to eat, and I'm sure at some point I'll take a job for the money. Maybe I'll use that to fund a smaller project for myself six months down the line.
"I'll put on some Lycra, I'll be a superhero. People want entertainment and escapism and I'm not against that."
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