From child star to medicine:

Actor Freddie Highmore (right) talks to Sarah Nealon about playing a surgeon with autism and savant syndrome in medical drama The Good Doctor.

Freddie Highmore talks about his latest role in The Good Doctor.

Child actors have a reputation for going off the rails when they become adults. But that’s definitely not the case with Fredde Highmore.

The star of dramas The Good Doctor and Bates Motel began his on-screen acting career at age seven and went on to star in the Johnny Depp films Finding Neverland and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Now 26, Highmore has a solid body of work behind him and has worked alongside big names such as Andy Samberg and Angela Bassett.

On a visit to New Zealand he seems more advanced than his years and is thoughtful, polite and humble.

Unlike many of his peers in the entertainment business, Highmore shuns social media.

Despite having appeared in films and TV shows with well-known actors there is no dropping of names throughout our interview.

He credits his family, including his actors’ agent mother, with keeping him grounded. It also helped being raised in the UK.

“Being in London gives you a certain distance and not that need to define yourself as an actor in quite the same way,” he says. “I think if you were growing up in LA you’d be forced to.”

Highmore is now starring in medical drama The Good Doctor, where he plays Dr Shaun Murphy, a talented US surgeon with autism and savant syndrome. (The show was inspired by a South Korean TV series of the same name).

The role came straight after he finished work on the fifth and final season of the dark drama Bates Motel where he portrayed the deranged Norman Bates in the contemporary prequel series to Psycho.