Max Irons: I'm not bothered by birthday

Max Irons thinks planning one's own birthday party is in "bad taste".

The Riot Club star doesn't have long left to enjoy his 20s - on October 17 this year he'll hit the big 3-0. While it might be an excuse for a big night out or lavish dinner party, the star is determined to keep things low key.

"I'm trying not to think about it," he laughed to British newspaper Metro. "I always think it is in slightly bad taste to plan one's own birthday party, so I'm just going to hope I can get under the radar and hope nobody notices."

Max is currently living in America, where his girlfriend Sophie Pera resides. However, they are planning a move back to his native England, where they'd like to set up home. It also means Sophie will be closer to France, where her father is from.

Max comes from an acting family; both his mother Sinéad and father Jeremy are thespians. They weren't afraid to offer input when their son revealed he was following in their footsteps.

"They gave me a very honest appraisal of what it was to be an actor," he explained. "And they reminded me that they'd been very fortunate in their careers.

"It's a difficult, unpredictable and emotionally, physically and spiritually turbulent existence. But once they saw I was serious about it, they backed off and let me make my own decisions."

While he's made a go of it now, there were other careers that interested Max. In fact, he initially thought he'd grow up to become a teacher or a pilot.

Max can next be seen in Woman in Gold, a drama that also stars Dame Helen Mirren.