Stephen Graham ‘lost himself’ in alcohol while playing racist thug in This Is England

Stephen Graham truly is one of the UK's most talented actors, but he nearly packed it all in after starring in This is England. You can watch the trailer for the film here:

Speaking on Desert Island Discs, he said: "It was life-changing. I lost myself quite a bit within that character."

Due to the violence and racism depicted in the film, he said he would often come home and ‘cry my eyes out’ while they were shooting scenes. 

"For me, that was where I really learned to dive into a character," he added.

"After This Is England I could not get a job. For about eight months I couldn't get an audition.

"I almost packed it all in. I was going to be a youth worker."

The nature of the script also brought up painful memories of racist abuse he suffered when he was younger.

Graham, whose grandfather was from Jamaica, said: "I'm mixed race. As a kid I was called ­horrible words that I don't even want to say, and little monkey boy."

It was a dark time in his life, though thankfully the 49-year-old star has overcome major struggles and grown both personally and professionally over the years.

He's starred in a wide variety of roles since This is England, including The Irishman, Boardwalk Empire, Line of Duty and Peaky Blinders.

More recently, the actor led The Walk-In where he played reformed neo-Nazi turned anti-fascist activist Matthew Collins.

Set during the time of the EU referendum, the series delves into the danger of division that is as important a topic now as it was back then.

"I love to go into people’s living rooms and create conversation and debate, try and bring about some discussion about what they’re watching.

"It’s important for me, as an actor, to be part of something that’s a social commentary."