Freddie Highmore: ‘staying in London and avoiding social media has kept me grounded’

Former child star Freddie Highmore has said that staying in London and avoiding social media has helped him stay grounded.

The London-born actor, 25, who stars in new film The Journey, rose to fame as a child in Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opposite Johnny Depp.
He went on to appear in films including A Good Year and August Rush before taking a break from acting to concentrate on his studies.

Highmore credited his “parents, friends, being lucky and living in London” for why he didn’t go off the rails and down the clichéd child star route.
“I guess I am lucky. I think the distance from it as well with school and university allows you to see the illusions or see through them more so than if that’s your reality,” he told the Standard.

“But I think it also just helps you grow as an actor too. In the way that if your only experiences are growing up on sets then it gets to a point where you don’t have anything to draw on in terms of real life experience to portray these characters.”

After taking a few years out to finish school and go to Cambridge University, where he studied languages, Highmore landed the leading role as Norman Bates in hit US show, Bates Motel.
“The majority of my friends I knew from before I started filming in a big way,” he said.

“Certainly those at university didn’t know me at the beginning from films really; it was purely that social aspect of being there before restarting it with Bates Motel.
“So I don’t feel that I’ve missed out on anything in that way. I guess it just seems normal, it seemed normal to me at the end of school that I would go to university.”

Despite the show’s huge fanbase and popularity, Highmore has steered clear of getting involved with fans on Twitter.

“I guess I stayed off the social media and stuff like that,” he said.

“Not that you don’t appreciate people who like the work that you’ve been doing and the things that you’re in. I just feel like it’s always helped me maintain a clear difference between your private life at home and then when you’re working and that side of things.
“I don’t have any of those, the Twitter or anything. Maybe I should just get some secret account somewhere and keep up to date with everything.”
Highmore stars opposite Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney in Nick Hamm’s new film, which follows the famous car journey taken by Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness in 2006.

While he enjoys working across both film and television, Highmore has admitted that he has no five-year plan and is taking every project as it comes.

“Maybe some people do but I have no idea what I’ll be doing in five years at all. Bates Motel has been such a brilliant experience for me so if I could have that all over again I would,” he said.
The actor plans to stay in London ‘for the time being’ as ‘it’s always nice coming back here, even when it’s raining.’

Highmore said that he finds the ‘sense of uncertainty’ that acting brings ‘exciting’, and has no plans to settle down anytime soon.

“I think it is exciting that there’s a sense of uncertainly about what I’m going to be doing next and what’s going to come up before the end of the year, or not, and a lot of it isn’t even in your hands,” he said.

“At the same time there is a stability that, having done TV, gives you and without that there is a lack of structure and I’d imagine that you would crave after a couple of years of unstructured life to settle down.

“I’ve always feared longer term that that would be more of an issue but I’m only 25 so at this stage I’m alright.”