(Photo: Getty Images)

You probably know Sam Claflin from The Hunger Games, Peaky Blinders, Pirates of the Caribbean, Enola Holmes, and Me Before You. For his latest role, in the music-themed miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six, he learned to play the guitar as part of his portrayal of a fictional 1970s rock star loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham. It's a real change of lane for the British actor, so we're taking the opportunity to round up 10 things you may not know about him.

1. His father has had chronic health difficulties since Claflin was a child.

Claflin grew up in Norwich, England, the son of a mother who was a teaching assistant and a father who was a finance officer. "He had many struggles with his health, so in a sense was absent quite a lot, but was always as present as he could be," Claflin told the Daily Telegraph. "He had diabetes, he very nearly went blind, and then he had to retire in his 30s after he had a heart attack. He was on dialysis for a long time."

However, Claflin added positively in the same interview: "My parents never allowed that to infiltrate our minds. They were always very supportive and very free with allowing us to do what we wanted to do. We were fortunate."

2. As a child, his ambition was to become a professional soccer player.

Claflin was good enough to play for the junior team affiliated with his local club, Norwich City, but injuries put paid to his chances of sporting glory. "I played on four teams – for my school, my county, Norwich City Academy, and a Sunday league," he told the Wall Street Journal. "I broke my left ankle in a match when I was 11, but it healed and let me continue to play. Then one day, when I was 16, while playing in the park, I broke my right ankle. Lying there in pain on the field, I knew that my dream of turning pro was over."

3. He isn't as posh as some people presume.

Though he starred in The Riot Club, a 2014 film about privileged and appallingly behaved Oxford University students, Claflin's own formative years were more modest. "I'm not very well educated," he told The Guardian. "Douglas Booth and I went to Eton College for the day with the director, because we were the only two cast members who hadn’t been to private school. It was a real insight into a world that I hadn’t known existed."

4. He auditioned for Eddie Redmayne's role in My Week with Marilyn.

Released in 2011, this acclaimed biopic is set behind the scenes on The Prince and the Showgirl, a 1957 film starring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Claflin was close to being cast as Colin Clark, a runner who bonded with the Hollywood icon during filming. 

Though he missed out on the role, the experience proved serendipitous because Laura Haddock, his future wife, auditioned to play Marilyn at the same time as him. "I've met the director a few times and he'd say to me, 'I'm sorry it didn’t work out.'" Claflin recalled in 2014. "But I'd say: 'It's fine, it's fine, I met my wife, it's absolutely fine.'"

5. But Redmayne also helped out Claflin early in their careers.

The two actors bonded when they appeared together in the 2010 miniseries The Pillars of the Earth. "He was a bit earlier than me getting out of the gate," Claflin told the Sydney Morning Herald. "He completely took me under his wing and became a close friend for a while."

6. He and Haddock married in 2013 but legally separated six years later.

In a recent interview with Variety, Claflin admitted that the breakup hit him hard, not least because he and Haddock have two young children to consider. "I was in a really bad place. I think I needed to work out a few kinks in my own life, to figure out who I was as this dad on my own in a house outnumbered by two toddlers," he recalled.

Thankfully, landing his latest role in Daisy Jones & the Six helped Claflin to find himself again. "Then this job coming out the back of that was just the most fun, joyous fresh start," he added. 

7. His brother Joe Claflin is also an actor.

You may have spotted Joe in episodes of Grantchester, Wallander, Game of Thrones, Holby City, and EastEnders.

(Photo: Instagram / @mrsamclaflin)

8. He found making the first Hunger Games movie pretty grueling.

Claflin has admitted that he experienced "loneliness" during the six-month shoot in Atlanta, GA. "I was in a hotel, and all I had for company was a box set of Friends," he told The Guardian. "In a way, it was helpful that I had to be in such good shape: for months my routine went gym-chicken-bed-gym-chicken-bed-work, repeat."

9. He has spoken out about the way Hollywood expects men – as well as women – to look a certain way.

Claflin has admitted he has a habit of comparing his own physique to that of other, muscular leading men. "You can't deny there are pressures within the industry that I work in," he said on The Joe Wicks podcast.

"I think it's more pressure I put on myself, comparing myself to Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans," he continued. "Not that I'm comparing myself to them, but I’m constantly going, 'Oh, he got that role. Why? Because he's got a ripped six-pack and a personal trainer.' I've definitely done jobs where they've analyzed every aspect of my training regime and my diet, to make sure I'm losing weight."

10. These days, he has no real desire to appear in blockbuster movies.

Claflin has said he started seeking out less high-profile roles after completing his Hunger Games stint. "I felt like I was a little fish kind of drowning. I just didn't feel like I could keep up with the people around me that were huge personalities," he explained on The Joe Wicks podcast. "I give the impression that I’ve got a big personality, but actually I’m quite shy. I made a conscious decision to side-step and focus on more intimate projects and things that are more character-driven."

Do you have a favorite performance by Sam Claflin?