Star of Oscar-nominated film An Irish Goodbye: I can’t wait to get back to my job at Starbucks

He’s the star of an Academy Award-nominated movie, but James Martin is so determined not to let fame go to his head that he clings to his job at his local Starbucks.

The actor will be waiting with bated breath at the Oscars when the winners are announced, as An Irish Goodbye, in which he plays one of two brothers bonded by the death of their mother, is nominated in the Best Short Film category. .

But the excitement hasn’t deterred the 30-year-old Northern Irishman, who has Down syndrome, from working shifts at his old jobs at the coffee chain and as chef at Scalini’s Italian restaurant in Belfast.

“I help with all the customers,” he says of his job at Starbucks.

‘I’ve been doing that for a long time. It is nice.’

Martin, who rose to fame appearing on the BBC’s Ups And Downs, is also proud of the skills he picked up at Scalini’s: “I can make garlic bread, meatballs, salads and mussels, chips and the like.” .

The actor has won worldwide acclaim for his role in the dark comedy An Irish Goodbye.

Speaking about being an actor with Down syndrome, Martin, who lives with his parents in Belfast, said: “Anyone can act, it doesn’t matter if you have Down syndrome.”

Talent: The actor has won worldwide acclaim for his role in the dark comedy An Irish Goodbye

Take Stephen Hawking for example. [who had motor neurone disease] in The Simpsons. He was a fantastic actor, he knew what he was doing, but you have to treat him like an adult. I always tell people never judge a book by its cover. ‘

With few in the public eye with the condition, Martin says he is often mistaken for another star who has it, Line Of Duty’s Tommy Jessop.

“Boy, he knows how to act,” Martin says of Jessop. For some reason I get stopped a lot and people are like, “Are you Tommy from Line of Duty?”

And I’m like, no, I’m not Tommy, wrong show. Many people think that I am him and he is me.

‘It’s really strange how that happens.

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

If you need help, I’ll always be here.

It would be great if he could present me with an Oscar, it would be great if that happened.”

Martin will turn 31 on Oscar night on March 13 and says he looks forward to partying with fellow Irishman and Oscar nominee Colin Farrell after the ceremony in Los Angeles and meeting his hero Robert De Niro.

He also says that he’s taking his long-time girlfriend, Louise Davies, as his date.