Tom Sturridge: I solve problems

Tom Sturridge looks at every job as a problem solving exercise.

The 29-year-old has starred in an array of films over the years, from The Boat That Rocked to On the Road. He also dabbles in theatre work, currently appearing in the West End production of American Buffalo alongside Damian Lewis and John Goodman.

It would appear that Tom has accomplished his aims of becoming a recognised actor, but he maintains a modest outlook.

“The phrase ‘dream career’ sounds pretty stupid, what a stupid thing to say," he told British newspaper The Independent. "The one thing I do know is that I don't have any tools or muscles to do it and so I don’t see it as one job. I see every [job] as ‘how the f**k do I solve this problem and get away with it'’ I am just solving this problem now, that’s the way I think about things. I don’t have a general archetypal platonic shadow, ‘acting’ concept about it. I am just finding out how to keep this alive.”

Cinemagoers can next see Tom in Far from the Madding Crowd, based on Thomas Hardy's classic novel. He plays Sergeant Troy opposite Carey Mulligan's Bathsheba Everdene.

Despite acting running in his blood - his parents are director Charles Sturridge and actress Phoebe Nicholls - he admits he was initially hesitant about following in their footsteps. But after landing the role of Roger in István Szabó's Being Julia alongside Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons aged 18, it all changed.

“It would be disingenuous of me to say I didn’t understand it because it was in my family but I was a relatively clichéd teenager and I didn’t want anything to do with what my parents did,” he recalled. “I lived in Hungary on my own for a couple of months and he’s [István's] a great artist so it was a very seductive experience.”