Peaky star I played a Blinder as ticket tout
Peaky Blinders hardman Paul Anderson kicked off his acting career by flogging tickets outside football grounds.
The actor was on the wrong side of the law selling a ticket to a film director when he landed his big movie break.
He now has a global fanbase for his portrayal of crazed Arthur Shelby, the feared enforcer in Peaky Blinders.
Series four of the gritty BBC drama sees the Shelby f irm in hot water after a killing by Arthur led to a New York mafia vendetta.
Anderson, 39, has revealed he loved being a ticket tout – but his ambitions lay elsewhere.
He said: “I earned a lot of money but that was all I got out of it. I always wanted to be a frontman in a band. Not a footballer. Not an actor.”
But when he sold tickets to director Nick Love for a Chelsea v Barcelona game, his life changed for ever.
Love thought he was perfect for the part of thug Bex in The Firm, a 2009 film about football hooligans.
Anderson said: “I was handling the odd ticket or two and sort of exchanging them for money.
“He was with friends and I sold them tickets.”
The star says the moviemaker found his touting “exotic” and later offered him a role in the film.
Now Anderson, who also starred in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Revenant, is f looded with mail from fans of Arthur.
He said: “People do like him. I’m really surprised.”