On Chesil Beach star Billy Howle says he is fed-up of being asked where he went to school at auditions.

Privately-educated British actors are enjoying big success in Hollywood.

Howle, who stars alongside Saoirse Ronan in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novella On Chesil Beach, told the Observer: “It’s something that still bugs me about acting.

“The number of auditions I go to where they ask where I went to secondary school, it’s crazy.

“That really gets my back up. Just because you went to Eton, it doesn’t make you a better actor.”

Howle, who grew up mostly in Scarborough, said his own experience of school was not a happy one.

“I just couldn’t see how most of the stuff they taught us could be applied to anything, so I spent most of the time challenging the teachers,” he said.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic West and Damian Lewis are among the privately-educated actors to have made it in Hollywood.