Paul Bettany thinks being dyslexic has helped his career

Paul Bettany believes having dyslexia has helped his career.

The 50-year-old actor always knew he would “fail” if he had to go into an audition and read “off the cuff” so spent hours practising his lines and thinks his focus on being “really, really prepared” has given him the edge in some situations.

He told The Rake: “I think it’s really helped me because, in the end, I would refuse to come into auditions and just read something off the cuff because I couldn’t.

“I knew I was going to fail. So I would learn scripts in advance.

“I remember, in the read-through for ‘A Beautiful Mind’, we were all sitting around a table and I was pretending to read the script – I had learned the whole thing off by heart. And I think that helped me.

“I could never control whether I was more talented than another actor walking into an audition or better looking or more suited for the role or taller, or with a better build, whatever it is.

“The only thing I could control was how prepared I was. And I think because of my issue with sight-reading, I came really, really prepared.”

The ‘WandaVision’ actor is more “confident” these days but still gets nervous when he’s on camera and doesn’t know what’s going to happen.

He said: “It’s calmed down now because I’m 50 years old and more confident and whatever. But still, life is full of moments where you don’t know what’s about to happen.

“I’ve always felt my heartbeat slow down when the cameras start rolling, even from the beginning, because I know I am about to be asked a really difficult question by my dad in the show or whatever, and that somebody much brighter than me will have written a response that I have been able to wrap my brain around and really understand it before I deliver it.

“So I’ve always felt much more relaxed acting than I have bumbling through real life.”