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Andrew Scott reveals he ‘couldn’t afford to eat’ in his early career

Andrew Scott has revealed that he “couldn’t afford to eat sometimes” in the early years of his acting career.

The 39-year-old, who has made himself known since starring in Spectre last year and the just-released Alice Through The Looking Glass, admitted that it took him years to finally make a decent living.

“It really wasn’t easy. For years and years, I kept going. The work was my passion and I was doing what I had always wanted. But while there were amazing ups, there were a lot of downs too. Big gaps between employment,” he told the Irish Sun.

Kenneth Egan & Guests at The Late Late Show

Tough: Andrew couldn’t afford to eat at the start of his career | VIPIRELAND.COM

“For so long, I’d think, ‘F**k, I just really want a job.’ I couldn’t afford to eat sometimes.

“You’d go through periods of doubting yourself and I certainly considered walking away altogether. It wasn’t so bad in my 20s because everybody is poor in their 20s. You don’t need money. All your friends are in the same boat.

“But when you get to your 30s, you want to be able to afford dinner.”

A screening of "The Stag' at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

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The Dublin native, who landed his big break in BBC’s Sherlock after 11 years in the industry, revealed that he finally has a consistent flow of acting jobs.

“For the first time in my career, I’m good. I’m not sweating. There’s a level of consistency and some great opportunities are feeding each other.

“I don’t have that anxiety anymore; that feeling of dread when a job is finishing and suddenly you’re thinking, ‘I have nothing to fall back on after this.'”

IFTA Awards 2015 - guests at The Westbury Hotel

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Andrew’s latest role as psychiatric doctor Addison Bennett in Alice Through The Looking Glass sees him star alongside Hollywood stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

The actor admitted that the opportunity to work alongside some of his acting idols was “an honour”.

“It’s not a big part at all but it was an opportunity to work on something huge scale because I shot this before Spectre and I just couldn’t believe James would even consider me. It was an honour.

IFTA Awards 2016

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“And I don’t share scenes with them but to be in the same film as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, actors I’ve watched my whole life, was pretty special.

“You learn a lot from working on something like this. Often as an actor, you dream of these big films and you think, ‘I wonder what that would be like?’

“And then you find out that it’s great — but not really any better or worse than being on another film. It’s just more profile.”

The Irish Film & Television Academy awards 2014

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While Andrew has now hit the big time, he won’t be choosing blockbuster hits over films that could mean so much more to him.

“That’s one mistake I’m not planning on making. I don’t want to be in films based on their profile.

“I’m in some films that are huge but I don’t want to be a slave to that. We’re not here long. So if I want to do a really cool film with great people and it pays f**k all, I want to go and do that,” he added.

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