About A Boy star Nicholas Hoult on treading the boards at three and taking on as many roles as possible, except the one he really wanted – a dolphin

‘I’m glad I managed a normal life. Being swept up in acting young can twist your head around’

she thought I could concentrate well. I don’t know how you can tell with a three-year-old but that is how I did my first play.” The name of the production is lost to history, but it led to Nicholas being cast soon afterwards in a local production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, other auditions and more plays. Before he was 10, he had a thriving part-time career as an actor.

“But I managed to stay at a normal school all along,” he adds firmly.

And he got into as much trouble as most high-spirited teenage boys. “There was an art teacher I had a crush on, who came to school one day with a hickey [lovebite]. I sat at my desk and made a kissing noise so she gave me a detention. I never did that again!

“I really just did acting as a hobby – it was the sort of thing I did instead of playing for a sports team. And I’m definitely glad now that I managed to have as normal a life as possible, instead of being swept up in the acting world from a young age, because I think that can twist your head around a little bit.

“Yes, I did work a lot when I was young, but I also stepped away from work a fair amount too, and that’s important because it means you can find your own interests and meet the people you want to be around. “Although I didn’t go to university, I have actually had a variety of different experiences through the jobs I’ve done and the places I’ve seen. So it’s been a different education in life, but a good one so far.”

One of the people who was around for quite a while was his X-Men costar Jennifer Lawrence. They dated for five years, until her burgeoning fame after the smash hit Hunger Games movies took its toll on the romance.