Thomas Brodie-Sangster says being a child actor impacts how you “develop and grow as a person”.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster
The 30-year-old actor rose to fame as a teenager when he starred as Sam in the 2003 movie ‘Love Actually’, and has said being thrust into the working world at a young age gave him a “sense of responsibility” that he wouldn’t have developed so quickly if he had a normal upbringing.
He said: "I hated, hated, hated being spoken down to in any way or mollycoddled as a child. So, when I'd go on set, everyone would just treat me as just another person hired to do a job and I loved that sense of responsibility. But, I mean, that must affect how you develop and grow as a person."
However, Thomas insisted he didn’t spend his entire childhood working, as he still made plenty of time to “sit for hours in my room and just play”.
He added: "I could be the professional … then come home and still surround myself with toys and sit for hours in my room and just play. That's how I looked at acting: it is just playing around, it's not that serious; it's just putting on voices and pretending to be someone else for the day, which is all I did at home with my sister anyway."
And almost two decades on from his feature film debut as Sam, Thomas – who has also starred in the likes of the ‘Maze Runner’ franchise, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, and ‘Dragon Rider’ – still enjoys exploring the world of make-believe.
Speaking to Mr. Porter, he said: "Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I'll pretend to be different people and characters and my voice sounds different - sometimes that's just for fun and sometimes it's intentional - I don't know. Life can sometimes feel make-believe but you make-believe along with it to make it feel more fun. Sometimes."
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