Sam Claflin

Samuel George "Sam" Claflin

27 June 1986

An English actor. As a child, Claflin had an interest in football. He played throughout his childhood until he broke his ankle, an injury that he felt would prevent him from playing professionally. After some persuasion from his parents and a teacher with whom he'd made an impression during his high school play at Costessey High School, he pursued acting. In 2003, he took up Performing Arts at Norwich City College, before going on to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2009.

Claflin made his acting debut in 2010, when he appeared on the television miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth" as Richard and in the TV series "Any Human Heart" as young Logan Mountstuart. In March 2011, he was cast as Thomas in "The Seventh Son", a film adaptation of The Spook's Apprentice, but dropped for unknown reasons and was replaced by Ben Barnes.

In April 2010, he was cast as Phillip Swift, a missionary that falls in love with a mermaid, in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", the fourth installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series. For the film, he received a nomination in the 17th Empire Awards for "Best Male Newcomer." In 2012, he played a supporting role in "Snow White and the Huntsman", as William, Snow White's childhood friend. He received a nomination in the 2012 Teen Choice Awards for the category "Best Movie Breakout." 

On 22 August 2012, Lionsgate announced that Claflin had been cast as Finnick Odair in "The Hunger Games" film series, starting with "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire". Director of "Catching Fire", Francis Lawrence, stated of Claflin's performance during filming: "Finnick's an interesting character. At first he feels like a bit of a flirt and there's a little bit of sexual tension, but really you kind of fall in love with the guy and you see that there's a real deep emotional side to him. It's one of the reasons I really hired him in the first place was that it's where his character goes in the next couple of stories and I just think he did a fantastic job." The film was released in November 2013 to general acclaim and Claflin's portrayal of Finnick received positive reviews. Claflin reprised the role in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1", released in November 2014, and "Part 2", released in November 2015.

As actor

• The Pillars of the Earth (2010)
• The Lost Future (2010)
• Any Human Heart (2010)
• United (2011)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
• Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
• White Heat (2012)
• Mary and Martha (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Quiet Ones (2014)
• The Riot Club (2014)
• Love, Rosie (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016)
• Me Before You (2016)
• Their Finest (2016)
• My Cousin Rachel (2017)
• Journey's End (2017)

Quotations

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I always try to be true to who I am and just be myself.

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When I was in high school, I was a bad singer. I mean, all my early acting was musical theater, and my first ever show was 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' Everyone's familiar with it. I played priest number 3 and sang so out of tune that it's not even funny.

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I purposefully did not want to watch anything I've done so far; I actually don't like looking at my face, so I don't like watching myself on the screen. It's an insecurity thing I have.

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I do just genuinely believe Chris Hemsworth is a 6'3, more muscular version of me. And more handsome, but I try.

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Get yourself into every audition that you can. Even in those for smaller roles, you'll never know when someone may recommend you for a bigger one.

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I don't go to royal parties or play polo on horseback. No, I don't hang out with the posh crowd, if that makes sense.

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Johnny Depp gave me the best advice. He said, 'Keep your feet on the ground. Stay grounded. Remember where you came from.'

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There will be times when you just can't seem to land an acting job, and you feel like giving up. Don't! The only way to realise that dream is to keep working hard for it.

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I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, I think, and I strive for perfection.

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L.A. is my office. I come here for work and work only.

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My parents don't have any showbusiness links. They are so far away from it.

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A famous actor told me once - I don't want to name names, I hate that sort of thing - but I was at his house and he said, 'Are you on Twitter?' I said, 'Yes, I am.' And he said, 'There'll be one day when you'll have, like, five friends. And in the same day it'll go to five thousand.'

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I keep in touch with what's real.

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I think it's every actor's dream to play a character that's really odd, and you know no one wants to play himself.

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I'm open to all the elements, I'm definitely ready to take anything on. But I don't want to jump too far into the deep end.

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I come from the bottom of the ladder. I'm from Norwich. Not many people seem to know about it.

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Chris Hemsworth is like my bromance. Seriously, I think I really inherited one of my best friends now. He doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to stalk him if he doesn't.

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Going through the ranks and all the training you do as an actor, you hope you're going to make it. But there's a part of you that's got to be realistic and say: 'Look, it might not happen to me.'

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I quite like the element of surprise, and as much as I have my ideas, I always appreciate ideas that come from other people as well, and I love the mystery of not knowing.

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One of the first pieces of advice I was ever given, on my first job was, 'You should always buy something to treat yourself to say, 'Well done for getting the job!'

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I have to prove myself in a lot of ways - as an actor, as a person, as someone who can handle pressure.

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In England, when we're at drama school, we spend a lot of time learning the craft from playwrights and stage actors, who are very well trained in the basics of acting because they need to get it right the first time - you can't have second or third takes when you're in front of a live audience, unlike in film.

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