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Ted Lasso star praises school's influence on career

Getty Images Phil Dunster stood in front of a light blue stand at a promotional event Getty Images
Phil Dunster attended Leighton Park School in Reading

Ted Lasso star Phil Dunster has described how his passion for acting first began to flourish at school.

Dunster, who plays Mancunian footballer Jamie Tartt, said he first realised the power of drama while he was a teenager at Leighton Park School in Reading.

He told BBC Radio Berkshire he experienced a "special moment" performing Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood and that he was inspired by two drama teachers.

He has played Tartt, AFC Richmond’s star striker, for three seasons in the Apple TV+ show and could reprise the role in the fourth.

Dunster, 32, said he started to take acting seriously when he was 16 or 17 and was inspired by teachers Geraint Thomas and Damon Young.

“It’s a Quaker school so we are allowed to use their first names, don’t worry!” he said.

Getty Images Dunster with a variety of other cast members of Ted Lasso lined up ahead of the Ted Lasso premiere in the United States Getty Images
Dunster (far left) with other Ted Lasso cast members in June

“There was this space where suddenly we had a voice there and we had space to play. I think it was really doing Under Milk Wood at school with Geraint.

“I think, in a highfalutin mindset, I sat there and watched our assembly hall, for want of a better phrase, turn into this fishing village in rural Wales. And I had a special moment to go 'wow, this is a powerful thing'."

Dunster said he settled on a career in acting after rejecting a plan to join the Army and attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

“I don't know how I got into [the theatre school]. I really genuinely don't know. Somehow they were foolish enough to let me in,” he said.

Getty Images A picture of Welsh author Dylan Thomas standing in front of a bookshelf at the Gotham Book Shop during a reception held in his honour in New York CityGetty Images
The Ted Lasso star said he was inspired by Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood

Dunster adopted Tartt’s Mancunian accent while auditioning for the part for the comedy-drama.

“It was a funny one really, because originally I thought they wanted to have a European footballer and they wanted us to do a Spanish accent,” he said.

“But they liked the cut of my jib and they asked me to come back with a different accent from my own.”

He said he based the accent on a friend’s and because his fiancee’s family is from Manchester.

Dunster said it was unclear if he would reprise the character, with the fourth season yet to be written.

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