Paul Mescal was my co-star - but I'd never seen Normal People and had no idea he was so famous... until I saw him get mobbed by swooning fans
He's one of Hollywood's hottest heartthrobs, especially after showing off his ripped body in Gladiator II.
Yet while millions of women would kill to be in the company of Paul Mescal, actress Patsy Ferran spent countless hours on stage and in rehearsal with the Normal People star, without having a clue quite who he was.
It was only when she saw crowds of swooning fans gathered outside the stage door after their performances of A Streetcar Named Desire in London that the penny finally dropped.
'That's when it really dawned on me how well-known he is,' the 35-year-old actress, tells You magazine today.
'I knew of him, obviously, but I somehow was living under a rock the whole time Normal People came out, so I hadn't seen it.'
She did then watch the coming-of-age drama Aftersun, for which Mescal earned an Oscar nomination.
'I told him how much I enjoyed it. And he went, 'Thanks very much.'
'Then, cut to doing the play in the evening, I looked at him from across the stage, and I just thought, 'Oh my god!' I got really fan-girly and flustered.'
They were appearing together at London's Almeida Theatre, before Mescal had been cast in the ancient Roman epic.
Critics raved that the Spanish-British actress upstaged her better-known co-star and she has gone on to be compared to acting greats Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Glenda Jackson.
Her latest film, Hot Milk, is released on Friday and co-stars Fiona Shaw. And she appears opposite George Clooney in the ensemble comedy-drama Jay Kelly due out in December.
In contrast to her experiences with Mescal, Patsy said she was starstruck working with Clooney.
She said: 'It was just a crazy experience. You've been watching these people your whole life and when they walk into your own reality, it's like a glitch... You're not supposed to be real!'
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