Young Sheffield actor who stars in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man thanks parents for pushing him
A young actor who grew up in the Steel City is now gracing the silver screen - after starring in his first film along some of Britain’s most famous actors.
Born in Hillsborough and raised in Oughtibridge, Alfie Thomas Bland is a Sheffield lad through and through.
And while he would go on to take up acting professionally, the desire to pursue a career in the arts didn’t hit him until he watched Avengers: Endgame as a teen.
After that, he applied for the performing arts course at Sheffield College, and was set down a path that would lead to him starring alongside acting legends like Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Stephen Graham and Barry Keoghan.
”I just knew that I loved films and I loved watching films,” he told The Star.
“At college I chose performing arts and it sort of just progressed from there.
“Being around other people who wanted to do similar things and enjoyed similar things - I feel like once you’re immersed in that environment [...] it’s easy for that to become your focus and it just took off from there.
“I’ve got multiple friends who also all have the same goals of being an actor, being in films, so that’s nice to be around those guys.”
He eventually found himself an agent, and as he was preparing to head to study at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) he got an exciting opportunity to audition for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
”To be honest it was a bit mental,” he added.
“Because obviously being at drama school I don’t think I’m really supposed to have an agent, so because it was my first year everything was a bit new I was talking to my agency about possibly leaving at the time.
“They turned around and said ‘oh there’s been some interest, would you be alright if we kept pushing forward?’
“So obviously, I said yes, because I’m not going to turn that down and then [it] went forward from there. Didn’t hear anything for a little while and then got sent an email saying that I had a Zoom audition.
“Really really lovely, nice good experience - and then I got an email from my agent saying I got the role and it was great.”
It was a sudden shift for the young man, who up to this point had gone through a fairly regular teenage experience of leaving home for university studies yet now was on a film set.
“I was trying to keep my cool a lot of the time,” he joked.
“I also didn’t want to fanboy over like all these people I’d looked up to for ages, because it was surreal being surround by the likes of Stephen Graham, Rebecca Ferguson, all these people I’ve looked up to for years.
“They were really lovely as well, really welcoming and just trying to make sure that I was okay a lot of the time.
“I chatted to Rebecca Ferguson a little bit about waking up early - she was just telling me about when she first started out and making sure that she was up early on time because she didn’t want to be late.”
The experience means that now, at only 20 years old, Alfie is a credited actor with an IMDB page and setting himself up for a further career in film and television.
And it wouldn’t have been possible without the support from his family, who pushed him to achieve his dreams.
“It was my first time jumping into acting, but it was also their first time jumping into acting,” he continued.
“Because I’d not really show much of an interest prior to going to college about doing it, they were a bit uncertain because it’s not always the most secure job in the world.
“So they were potentially a bit apprehensive about me going and committing to doing something like that, but I suppose once they’d seen how committed I was to it and how much I really did want to do it they were brilliant.
“Your environment moulds you as a person If you were brought up in an environment where you’re always being told ‘no, play it safe’ - ‘maybe don’t got for that, maybe just secure the likes of a nine to five, don’t chase your dreams’ - you’re never going to really want to force yourself to do that.
“But I’m lucky because I was brought up in an environment where it was always ‘yeah you can do it’
“I appreciate my parents for that because they played a big role in me going and doing it. I love them.”