Michael Fassbender has revealed that he would never consider himself as British, as they only try to claim him when he’s “doing well”.
The London Critics’ Circle Awards faced serious backlash last year after naming Michael, Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan as British stars.
Now, Co. Kerry native Michael has told how he firmly considers himself as an Irish man.
“I would never consider myself British,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
Not a Brit: Michael is an Irish man | VIPIRELAND.COM
When asked if he cares when British media claim him as a Brit, Michael laughed, “Well, they only do it if I’m doing well. If I’m not, I’m Irish.”
“I definitely still consider myself Irish. Yes, yes. And I’m definitely European.”
The 39-year-old, who was born in Heidelberg in 1977 and moved to County Kerry with his family when he was two-years-old, also revealed that his parents weren’t particularly thrilled when he decided he wanted to be an actor.
“They wanted me to go to university, because they were of that generation when anybody who went to university had security and got a good job.
Unsure: Michael’s parents weren’t keen on his plans to be an actor | VIPIRELAND.COM
“They said, ‘Go to university first’, and I was like, ‘No, I’m not going to waste time and money, I need to do this now.’”
Michael’s argument with his parents, Josef and Adele, continued until he directed his own stage production of Reservoir Dogs when he was 17.
“They saw me put on that play and they thought, ‘Shit, he’s serious.’ When they saw that I’d made up my mind, they knew that’s what I was going to do, and I have to say they supported me immediately after that.”
Lucky: Michael’s early career was struggle – but he’s been lucky | PATRICK O’LEARY
In his early career, Michael won a place at drama school in London, landing an agent and a part in Steven Spielberg’s TV mini-series Band Of Brothers.
However, while things seemed to be going smoothly, the work flow came to an abrupt end, and after two years in Los Angeles he had only completed a total of six weeks’ work – so he returned to London.
While Michael went through a tough period work wise, he admitted that he feels “so f**king lucky”, as a lot of actors had it much worse than him.
Qualities: Michael is an intuitive person | VIPIRELAND.COM
“There are a lot of good actors who are still in that position at 40. Bundles of them. I was so fucking lucky. I thought, I’ll just keep knocking on the door – and when the opportunity comes, I’m going to take it.”
Thankfully, Michael’s big break came with landing his role in Hunger – after which he became known as an unusually intelligent actor.
“I’m definitely not in the intelligent bracket. I mean, I was never academically smart. I don’t really consider myself intelligent. I just have a good – if I have, I don’t know – intuition. I’m a very intuitive person, and I guess I think very simply.”
