Actor returns to working in Starbucks after starring in Oscar-nominated movie

An actor who has starred in an Oscar-nominated film is determined to not let fame get to his head as he has gone back to his day job at Starbucks.

James Martin starred in the short drama An Irish Goodbye, a 2021 film directed by Ross White and Tom Berkeley.

The flick is nominated in the Best Short Film category at this year's Oscars and sees Martin play one of two brothers who are brought together by their mother's death.

Check out the trailer:

Since then, Martin's name has been coming up again and again among the Hollywood elite.

While most would gravitate towards fame once Hollywood has been mentioned, Martin is remaining grounded.

So while he could potentially pick up an award at the Oscars, Martin has gone back to work at Starbucks in Belfast.

Speaking about serving coffee to the people of Belfast, Martin told the Daily Mail: "I help out with all the customers.

"I’ve been doing that a long time. It’s nice."

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Alongside Starbucks, Martin also works as a chef at Italian restaurant Scalini’s in Belfast.

"I can make garlic bread, meatballs, salads and mussels, chips and stuff like that," Martin said.

In the interview, Martin also opened up about being an actor with Down's syndrome.

He said: "Anybody can act, it doesn’t matter if you have Down’s syndrome.

"Take Stephen Hawking [who had motor neurone disease] in The Simpsons.

"He was a fantastic actor, he knew what he was doing but you just have to treat him like an adult.

"I always say to people never judge a book by its cover."

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Martin added that he often gets mistaken for Line of Duty star Tommy Jessop, who became the first actor with Down's syndrome to star in a prime-time BBC drama.

Speaking of Jessop, Martin said: "Boy he can act - For some reason I get stopped a lot and people say, 'Are you Tommy from Line of Duty?'"

"And I’m like, 'no I’m not Tommy, wrong show'. A lot of people think that I’m him and he’s me.

"It’s really weird how that comes about.

"I would love to meet Tommy again, it would be nice to work with him and get to know him.

"If he needs any help, I’m always here.

"It would be really nice if he could present an Oscar to me, it would be really nice for that to happen."

Topics: Film and TV, Starbucks

Callum Jones

@CallumJ2709