well the best thing i've learned um and advice i could give maybe my younger self is really to
focus on happiness really enjoy my life i'm just so happy in my own skin and and i think i'm very
lucky to be that way you know my big thing about actors is you can't take yourself seriously if i
pretended to be serious that would be so stupid like i dress up in red and blue tights every day
and pretend to be a superhero like that's the most stupid thing i've ever heard
happiness is a key because there's so many people that you see either in this industry or just in
life in general that are going through their days and may have everything they could ever
want but they're not happy you know so you have to focus on what makes you happy and make decisions
um in your career in your life that make you happy and so i've been trying to do that and
it's working you know and and saying no to things that are negative and saying no to things that
don't you don't want to do you know so um i think that that's my biggest piece of advice sticking
with your vision and what you believe in is so so important like especially in this industry
there's so many opinions there's so many people that are going to tell you what you should think
of yourself and it's so important that you look at yourself you be happy with yourself and confident
in your own opinions and your own strengths and stay with that because it's so hard especially
if you're young people always want to doubt you i was talking to osa actually and just just in
our little break here and we were just talking about things and she was saying you know thank
you for for what you do and i was just like are you kidding me thank you for what you do
right i mean she was but something she said she said you know it's rare that there's a
place where young people um can speak and have voice and people will actually listen
and i think that that kind of struck a chord with me because i am a young person right and um
i'm a young person with a lot of followers and um you know i always say that i would much rather be
known for um the content of my character and the kind of person that i am than the last project
that i did or the last movie that i did or the last music that i put out following your dreams
is never easy really because you know it's going to take work and it's going to take dedication
and it's going to take focus and it's going to take drive but as long as you really love it
and you really want it and you keep that laser focused then nothing is impossible you got this
and so you know to know your purpose and to know who you are at such a young age is is hard and
it's difficult and i'm lucky to be around people like this who have found that um within themselves
and continue to live that truth every single day and i've learned that like my purpose i think is i
have this platform right i have this platform that i'm standing on and sometimes when you get there
you realize that your purpose is not to stand on anymore but to get off and let somebody else
stand on it so that's what i want to continue to do and continue to push we are the future we are
the future leaders of the world we are the ones who are going to make this world a better place
and i said it that day and i'm going to say it again but it's so true please understand the power
of your voice please understand that you have the capacity to literally change the world and i know
that's a lot of pressure and trust me i feel it too sometimes you know i'll put out an instagram
or whatever or i'll speak out and do whatever and i get hit with all kinds of things and
you know i'm like damn should i post that and i'm like yes absolutely i should have so do not let
other people's i guess you could say insecurities um and don't do not let that um cause fear and um
and allow that to silence you allow never allow that fear to silence you continue to be outspoken
continue to believe and live in your truth and do exactly what you were meant to do
and so honestly i'm just here to say that i appreciate you and i thank you and everybody
in this room for continuing to not only cultivate those young minds but say but give us a platform
and a space to speak and listen something i do i try to do every day um is i try to make someone
whether it be in my team or my life or whatever just happy or i may try to make them feel good
or feel comfortable or feel loved whatever it may be it could be the littlest thing it could
be just saying oh you look really pretty today or it could be something even smaller than that or
something bigger than that you know it doesn't really matter but it's just making a conscious
effort to make someone feel good and that could be a stranger or it could be your mom you know
first of all this is not about me this is about you this is about thanking you
for showing me that my life matters thanking you for showing me what strength means thank you for
paving the way for us for showing us that we are worth it that we are proud and it is okay to be
proud of who we are of our bodies of the way we look of the way we feel it's beautiful and now
is such a pivotal time in our history it's such a pivotal crazy time and i want you to know all you
ladies up there you are the leaders we are the future we need you we need every single one of
you in this room you are needed you are needed to step up to the plate right here right now and let
your voice be heard this is the time sometimes um i go and i go and i go and i think a lot of us can
relate to this but you go so hard and sometimes you forget to just kind of stop and um and take in
moments like this sometimes i was talking about it earlier i feel like i work so much i forget about
life and to actually be present in these kinds of moments where you can look around the room
um amongst people that you appreciate and and just take it in you know and just and just be happy
and just be alive for a second so that's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna just like take a second
look around and be like holy [ __ ] what kind of superhero would i want to play maybe
maybe spiderman in like 10 years time i honestly cannot even begin to explain to you how happy i
am and how excited i am if you had told me 10 years ago that you'll be playing spider-man in
a movie like this i would have been like you're a liar i've been a huge fan of these movies since
i was a kid i remember seeing toby's movies i remember seeing andrew's movies i love performing
like i think being on stage is really like where i belong i think that's my calling in life is being
on stage i love myself you know in a good way you know not in a way like oh i'm so [ __ ] handsome
i just really enjoy my life i'm just so happy in my own skin and and i think i'm very lucky to be
that way you know so from a very young age when i finished billy elliot all of my friends were like
30 years old and i was like 12. and i'd want to go for a pint i'm like i'm six years too young bro
my big thing about actors is you can't take yourself seriously if i pretended to be serious
that would be so stupid like i dress up in red and blue tights every day and pretend to be a
superhero like that's the most stupid thing i've ever heard so if i took myself seriously you just
kind of lose perspective of what it is that you're doing and stuff and it's my that's my pet hate
about acting is how people can take it and we're so revered and so talented like i just i think
there isn't enough credit that goes to people like surgeons and engineers and architects and
people who have like a real skill right they can do amazing things i basically had been auditioning
for about five months and after my final audition they said you'll find out tomorrow fast forward
six weeks i was still waiting still waiting and one day marvel just posted on their instagram go
to our website to find out who the new spider-man is and that's it i just found out online it
didn't they didn't call me up or anything so i ran downstairs i was going ballistic my poor dog tessa
was terrified um and my brother harry who's pretty savvy with technology and stuff was like dude
they've probably been hacked bro like they would call you right they would let you know and um
so i called my agents they were like oh this is amazing and then kevin feige finally rang
me and said i've got some great news you're gonna be spider-man i'm like i know kevin you put it on
i think for me instagram is the most important thing to like keep control over because it's
quite easy for instagram to be a very fake version of your life i'd like to try and keep
my instagram lively and let people know that i'm a bit of an idiot and a goofball and stuff
just because i don't want to have an instagram that's just like oh look at me right i think that
is a testament to my parents and how they brought me up you know like i meet a lot of kids now who
are obviously very shy and i get that you know because they're meaning like meeting spiderman
but when i was a kid my parents would force me to speak to adults like i hated it i absolutely hated
it but they were like come and have a conversation look them in the eye shake their hand like it
was all about trying to connect with people and i think i've always been very good at that and tried
i try and stay away from my phone even though it's impossible to do that sure but i think my
parents did a great job with helping me connect with people especially older people because i've
spent my whole career working you don't learn from willing you learn from losing and making bad
decisions and mistakes is a part of life the thing that separates people apart is whether you're able
to learn from your mistakes and grow from your mistakes there's no such thing as the perfect
human being and if there is i haven't met them yet i think my view on what my purpose in life
changes quite a lot um you know i love telling stories and i love that you know film can be a
form of escapism for people to escape their own lives and live for two and a half hours in someone
else's i think that's an amazing thing to be able to do i think during lockdown um entertainment and
television shows and films and and music has been really helpful to people trying to cope with this
horrible thing we're going through for me i think my purpose that i've realized recently is more
in the sort of charitable domain um the brothers trust is the charity that i run with my family
and i've quickly realized that i get more joy from helping other people than i do for making
a good film you know i've been given an amazing opportunity to have this platform to stand upon
and i can you know make a difference so for me i think that's kind of where my purpose lies at the
moment i hope it continues to stay there because it's quite a good one um that's probably where
i kind of fall into chris hemsworth gave me some really good advice after we shot heart of the sea
and then once i got cast he said i really love the email about just make sure you keep your
feet on the ground and you don't let this affect you you keep your family and your friends close
and and that's exactly what i've done i've brought my best friend with me i mean the only way to
prepare is to ask people like chris what did you do and what would you have done differently or how
how should i approach this um but i think the important thing is just to take it one step at a
time if i think if you rush into fame then that's where it can be really affecting and if you take
it for granted it can be really affecting um but i love this job and i love working so much that
i think i just i just i continue to work and won't sort of acknowledge the fame side of things really
other than spider-man what have you built done since we last spoke
it's all in love and how's that been incredible so no issues yet having to deal with
fame and fame is a very strange thing you have to try and
you know navigate so uh it's one of those things that makes it it becomes bittersweet
you