Tom Hardy says that acting 'saved' him when he was going through a dark time.
Tom Hardy
Hardy has been open about his drug problems but has been clean and sober now for ten years - in those ten years, he has seen his star rocket and he is now one of the best and most in-demand actors around.
And the British star admits that acting really did help during his troubles and he was driven by the desire to make his father proud.
Speaking to the Daily Mail about his past, the actor said: "In death, I was reborn ... The only thing that saved me through that dark time was acting. I originally got into it because I wanted to make my father proud of me. Because I was an only child, this was very important to me - and there wasn't very much of anything else that I could do.
"But acting was something I could do - and because I found that I was good at it, I wanted to make the effort to invest time and effort into doing it. These days, I'm lucky enough to do it for a living; and I love it and I learn from it every day."
Today, Hardy is enjoying success in the UK as well as in America and has had critical acclaim and box office hits with Mad Max: Fury Road and Legend in 2015.
He has continued that success into 2016 and is back on the big screen in The Revenant, a movie that sees him reunite with Inception co-star Leonardo DiCaprio for their second film project together.
Hardy's performance in the Alejandro González Iñárritu directed film saw him pick up a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - the first Oscar nomination of his career so far.
Hardy is nominated alongside fellow Brit actors Mark Rylance and Christian Bale for Bridge of Spies and The Big Short. Mark Ruffalo and Sylvester Stallone are also in the mix for their work in Spotlight and Creed.
2016 will also sees Hardy return to the small screen with new TV mini-series Taboo, alongside Oona Chaplin, David Hayman, and Jonathan Pryce.
He has also been linked to new film Dunkirk, which would see him reunite with filmmaker Christopher Nolan.
The Revenant is out now.
Tagged in Tom Hardy