'Dreadful': Challengers' star Josh O'Connor's confession after Zendaya film's monumental box office success

For some, the staccatos of camera flashes and screams from adoring fans is all they ever want when they land in Hollywood.

For others, it's a love of the craft that sees them endure the byproduct of having their name in lights.

And it seems Josh O'Connor falls into the latter category.

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The English-born son of a midwife and teacher initially wanted to be a professional artist when he was younger, before switching to rugby and then, ultimately, acting.

After six years of minor roles, O'Connor secured his breakthrough with a turn as Johnny Saxby in 2017's God's Own Country, before his role as a young King Charles III in The Crown shot him to household name status.

And now, with the release of Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, which dominated the box office in the United States over the weekend with a $23 million opening, O'Connor, 33, is facing being projected into the stratosphere.

Click the image below to see all the stunning celebrity looks at the Australian premiere of Challengers over at 9Honey Style.

That's a fact that, when Rolling Stone brought it up to him, saw O'Connor "[sink] back fully into his seat".

"Now that's a dreadful thought," O'Connor told the publication of the possibility of even more people knowing who he is.

"It's not a popular, attractive thing to say, but as you know, that doesn't fill me with excitement. I understand the structure of an actor is that the more you're known, the more likely you are going to be seen by X director or X director," he continued.

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O'Connor concluded: "If we look at acting as a business, it's a good thing. But I don't look at acting as a business. So to me, it's just a very vulnerable space to be in."

Elsewhere in the profile, O'Connor spoke about his challenges with press tours – he has, since stopping over in Sydney in March, been trotting the globe for the movie with co-stars Zendaya and Mike Faist – and how he doesn't believe he's very good at "succinctly [articulating]" what he's being asked to.

Yet he managed to do so while in Sydney, speaking with 9honey Celebrity about speaking with 9honey Celebrity.

"I really missed all the Kate stuff that everyone was talking online about," O'Connor told 9honey Celebrity at the Australian premiere of his new film Challengers in Sydney.

"And as soon as I heard about [Catherine, Princess of Wales' cancer diagnosis]... I just always feel so sorry for them.

"I know it's part of their job, but they're born into it. And the way everyone was talking about Kate, I found really sad."

He concluded: "But I just hope she's all right, and everyone's thinking of her and sending her good wishes."

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