I think that probably gave me an advantage going into auditions against the stage-school actors.
What concerns me is that we don't seem to have enough non-public school actors working in classical theatre.
Evidence that other public school actors, such as Old Harrovian Benedict Cumberbatch, are also doing well is beside the point, he claims.
You will also see jihadists who seem more like frustrated high-school actors, bitterly complaining that they don't get enough attention.
Period dramas "have a place", he said, "but there are a lot of public-school actors and writers about at the moment".
"All those shows definitely have a place, but there are a lot of public school actors and writers about at the moment.
(I remember being startled, several years ago, when covering a summer camp for high school actors, to hear teenagers singing songs from a show I'd assumed had disappeared after its two-month run Off Broadway).
Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, who went to Harrow and is one of a number of public school educated stars, including Damian Lewis, Dominic West and Laurence Fox, has railed against the typecasting of "posh" actors and said it was lazy to treat all public school actors the same way.
In a competition against 30 other high school actors from across the country, the 2009 Rising Star Award winners for best actor and best actress will perform in a show after attending a four-day workshop; two prizes of four-year college scholarships will be awarded.
"In Tel Aviv, you have great cafes, nice clothes and you live an illusion as if everything is all right," reflected Ilanit Swissa, a theater director and one of about a dozen liberal intellectuals setting up camp in Sderot who moved here a few months ago to work with high school actors.
