Alexander Skarsgard felt 'uncomfortable' as a child actor

12 June 2017

Alexander Skarsgard felt "uncomfortable" when he became a recognised actor at an early age.

Alexander Skarsgard

The 40-year-old hunk appeared in his first film 'Åke and His World' at the young age of seven years old, but the star has admitted being recognised as famous in Scandinavia "overnight" made him feel uneasy because he didn't believe the attention was genuine.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter as part of their 'Awards Chatter' podcast, the 'Big Little Lies' star said: "It made me very -- I don't want to say paranoid, but a bit uncomfortable.

"It was a shift overnight. Suddenly I got attention from girls that wouldn't look at me the day before. Suddenly they found me interesting, and it just felt disingenuous."

And it was that uneasiness which led him to quit the industry for almost one decade.

However, Alexander has admitted his father Stellan Skarsgard, 65, never pushed him to follow a career in the entertainment industry as the 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' star only wanted his brood to be "happy" in life.

He said: "He just wanted us to be happy and find our own path in life."

However, seven years after leaving the movie business Alexander decided to give it another go because he didn't want to have any regrets about his actions when he was older, although he struggled to make his comeback.

The 'The Legend of Tarzan' star explained: "I felt like, 'I don't want to wake up when I'm 65 and then regret not having tried it as an adult.

"It took a while.

"Reality hit me really hard in the face. I hit a kind of low point in the beginning of '07, where I was like, 'Why am I out here? Is this any better? At least in Sweden I get to work.' I'd already sold my car in L.A. I was kind of ready to go back to Sweden. I had a ticket to Sweden."

But a casting for 'The Wire' stopped him from returning home, and now Alexander has been nominated for an Emmy Award he thinks he has reached the "pivotal moment" in his career.

He said: "I don't know if this is a pivotal moment in my career."