Meet Christopher Robin star Will Tilston who landed role in first ever audition

For most actors, a big break finally comes after years of training, failed auditions and minimum wage bit parts laboured over in the hopes of being spotted.

Not so for one British schoolboy, who went for his very first audition aged nine and landed a role in a blockbuster.

Will Tilston, now ten, beat thousands of children to win the part of Christopher Robin in the film Goodbye Christopher  Robin, cast by the same director who discovered Daniel Radcliffe at the same age.

Simon Curtis, director

In a career trajectory few could claim to match, Will has been propelled from playing the donkey in his state school nativity play to one of the hotly-tipped future talents of the British film industry.

The schoolboy, who is now in Year 6, said he was “really enjoying” his first steps into the film world, which have seen him act alongside established stars Domhnall Gleeson and Hollywood favourite Margot Robbie.

In his first newspaper interview, the ten-year-old modestly claimed to have been the recipient of pure good luck: turning up for his very first audition at the exact moment the Christopher Robin filmmakers were ready to cast the little boy who looked just like him.

The filming process, which saw him take one term out of school to be on location in the Ashdown Forest, required the newcomer, who said he looks small for his age, change his voice and bearing to play the six-year-old Christopher, son of AA Milne.

Taking his future fame in his stride, he walked the red carpet at the premiere with his father, mother, sister and grandparents, who chaperoned him on set.

Simon Curtis, the director who selected Will, said it had been “one of the best experiences I have ever had working with an actor.”

“Richard Eyre once gave me advice about casting child actors, he said cast a child 'who you like', Curtis told the Sunday Telegraph.

“Will is a happy boy from a lovely family but during the audition process it was clear he had a remarkable ability to connect with the sadness in Christopher Robin.”

On the comparisons with Daniel Radcliffe, who was cast by Curtin in David Copperfield at the age of nine, Will said: “He’s become a really good actor, so I hope that’s the same with me.”

After discovering he enjoyed drama at school, Will started attending the D&B Academy of Performing Arts as a hobby on a Saturday morning, taking classes in varied discliplines including ballet and musical theatre.

There, teachers spotted his potential and encouraged him to work with an agent to stretch himself in the professional world of acting. Bonnie Sullivan, director of the D&B agency, said: “From the moment we met Will, we knew there was something really quite special about him.

“We’re delighted that we discovered him and so proud of what he has already achieved.” Of winning his first role, Will said:  “It was my first audition.

“It was such great timing. They’d been trying to work on the film for five years and it just got to the right time where I could do it. I looked like Christopher Robin and it was perfect timing really.”

After three months of auditions, which started with him simply giving his name and age in front of the camera and progressed to working with Gleeson, who plays his on-screen father, Will was not allowed to cut his hair just in case he won the part.

“It was under two minutes,” he said of his first visit to meet filmmakers.

“I was quite disappointed because I didn’t think I stood a chance. Lots of boys were there longer than me.”

When he received a phone call to say he had finally secured it, he said, “I was so excited I ran downstairs and jumped in my auntie’s pool with my pyjamas on.”

Despite his newfound fame, Will describes his homelife as ordinary, with a “regular school”, “nice friends” and parents with non-showbiz “normal” jobs.

Having spent time with his adult co-stars, he is already aware of the potential pitfalls of fame when “people come up and ask you for stuff when you’re just trying to have a normal day”, but admitted he was “quite excited” about his future.

“I’d love to be an actor, “ he said.

“I have been doing more auditions so we’ll see how that goes.”

Will’s immediate future will see him return to school, where he has previously taken parts as the donkey, shepherd, inn keepers’ wife and narrator in the nativity play.

“Mr T, my teacher - because I did the movie - he knew I could do chunks of lines so he did give me a big chunk,” he said of last year.

“I don’t know what’s happening in Year 6 yet.”

When it comes to a meteoric rise through the school play or in Hollywood, Will Tilston, it seems, is one to watch.

Will plays the young Christopher Robin in a film exploring AA Milne's creation of the much-loved Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and the darker side of worldwide fame for his only son. The Telegraph gave the film four stars.