Sharman likes to joke around with his co-stars to diffuse the tension. “When I’m filming, I always try to get the entire set to do a race, for the sake of my own ego. I’m by far the fastest man,” he laughs. If he sounds a bit pleased with himself, relax – Sharman doesn’t appear to take himself seriously. He’s delightful to talk to.
Since 2011, when he acted in his first feature film, The Last Days of Edgar Harding, Sharman has been working constantly, appearing in Immortals alongside Henry Cavill and Mickey Rourke. Fame might look like it has come to him suddenly, but the young UK actor says he’s been working hard for years to reach this point.
“I’ve done my time,” he says. “It seems fast, but it’s not. Not in any way, shape or form. And even if I keep doing this for ever, I don’t know if I’ll ever get it right. With everything I do, I’m try to get it right – I’m continually learning. To me it feels slow, but I don’t know if I want it to go any faster. Your training is in playing small parts, maybe four lines here or there, until you’re ready to play big parts. It wouldn’t have been good for me as an actor for it to go any faster. If you’re after meteoric success as an actor, you’re doing yourself a disservice – you won’t be learning in the way that you should. You plod along until the next stage.”
Much of Sharman’s dramatic training involved spending several years with the UK’sRoyal Shakespeare Company. “Theatre is a great place to learn how to act,” he reflects. “Weirdly enough, I was really young when I started with the RSC. Shakespeare to me feels like a second language, one you learn when you’re really young. I have such an affinity for it. I understand it; it’s like your mother-tongue or something. I have nostalgia for it, but I can’t be half-arsed about doing Shakespeare. I’d have to dedicate myself to it for long periods of time, and I can’t do that right now.”
Sharman, who is currently living in Los Angeles, says he’s never been as excited about going anywhere as he is about coming to Australia for the upcoming Supanova Pop Culture Expo. It offers the chance for fans to connect with Sharman, and talk to him about the many projects he has been involved with. Ultimately, it’s a flattering experience that still feels strange to him.
“It’s weird. They know me from different things. Or they say they’ve watched everything I’ve done.” Besides appearing in the reboot of Teen Wolf, Sharman’s illustrious TV profile includes the hit series, The Nine Lives of Chloe King and The Originals. He’s been on stage as well, appearing in Off the Main Road. While he has performed in numerous guises, Sharman now takes a more refined approach to picking his roles.
“Michael Caine said ‘say yes to everything’ – and seriously, he’s doing all right,” he laughs. “The only things I do now are those that challenge me – move me along – where I feel like I’ve got something to say in this arena. Those are the criteria by which I pick what I do. Life’s too short not to do the things that move you.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
