“I was a bit of a hectic and chaotic child,” rising thespian Samuel Small says as we begin our virtual conversation on a brisk Monday morning in November. “I love to dance, I love to move, I love to make noise.” There’s a youthful vibrance at the core of his nostalgic remembrance.

Channeling his childhood energy into dance and theatre from a tender age, by the age of 11 Small was sure that a career in the arts was his calling. “It’s a lot for an 11 year old to come out with,” he admits. “But my parents understood and supported me. I started to take it more seriously, going to open auditions for mainly theatre stuff, and was in the last six to play Billy Elliott on the West End.”

Small didn’t get the part of Billy, but it conditioned him in the act of discipline and taught him about coping with inevitable rejection. “A massive part of our industry is learning to deal with it. Getting so close to achieving something and then falling just short at the last hurdle never gets easy,” he offers. “But everything happens for a reason. From the biggest rejections of my life I’ve found my biggest successes.”

Moving to an arts specialist school to dedicate his time and education to his craft, Small’s first major role came when casters for CBBC show So Awkward came calling, plucking the teenage Small out of obscurity and into a leading role in the show for its third season.

“I was excited and felt like everything that i’d ever wanted was coming true before my eyes, but I was also terrified. I knew that I was going into a show where they’ve already done two series prior and they’ve all got close relationships and I’d never done anything like it in my career up until that point.”

Small gratefully found solace in school friend and co-star Archie Lyndhurst, who helped him settle into the role and the demands of filming an episodic show. Excelling over his three-season involvement in the series, Small felt it was time to fly the nest when he signed with a new agency, who suggested focusing on securing roles in more mature projects. “It’s sad to leave your co-stars behind while they’re having fun,” he says. “But it was all worth it – I had to think about what is going to be the best move for my career.”

A recurring role in BBC’s thrilling drama The Nest followed Small’s departure from So Awkward, before the actor secured a breakthrough role in this year’s effervescent coming of age comedy, Bonus Track. Set in the mid noughties, the film plays out as an ode to pop music. Small is charming as Max Marin, the son of famous musicians, who helps George Bobbin, his shy friend-come-romantic-interest in his desire to win a school talent show. Sweet, humorous and gentle, it’s a refreshing flick that feels a perfect launchpad for Small’s career.

Perhaps the centric driving point of the film’s character is the chemistry obtained by Small and his lead counterpart, Joe Anders, who also excels in the role as George. The onscreen relationship was born from a close friendship struck up by the two co-stars.

“We met in York when we got down to shooting and we had three or four days to rehearse,” Small explains. “It felt like we were both very professionally driven to make sure we got our prep done so that when the weekend comes we can digest it and go and shoot a movie in four weeks.”

“On the Friday neither of us had anything to do so I invited him to my accommodation, had a couple of beers and sat in the garden because it was beautiful weather. It allowed us to put that guard down and connect as humans. We got on like a house on fire. Every bit of nervous energy broke down and we were able to just connect and open up to each other. Come the shoot, it was like working with someone that I’d known for years. I fell in love with working with him and with seeing how he performed. He’s so incredibly natural in the film.”

“I feel like our chemistry is a massive part of this film. It rides on us creating, forming and having a believable relationship – whether that’s friends or romantic partners, We didn’t feel any pressure, we trusted each other to create something good.”

As he cements his position within the acting ranks, it’s apparent that Small’s intoxication with cinema is only increasing. “Film is an art form in which we can all express and see ourselves within,” he defines. “Everyone’s relationship to film is different; you can show a film to 10 people and they’ll all come away with something different. It’s an opportunity as an audience member to delve into a different world for a few hours and learn something new about these people; to grow, to love or hate these characters. It is a form of escapism and of being able to see the world through someone else’s eyes.”

As we near the end of our tête-à-tête, talk again turns to Archie Lyndhurst, Small’s friend and co-star who sadly passed away of leukaemia in 2020. “Every time I would slip up or something just didn’t feel right – or something went great – he would always say ‘we go again,’” the actor remembers when I query what the best advice is that he’s received in his career. “I’ve been given so much amazing advice but it was something as simple as a friend being that support.“

“It’s very easy to beat yourself up and be self-conscious about performing because it is such a vulnerable job. To be told and to know that has stuck with me.”

As we say our goodbyes, I think to myself that that simple but profound piece of advice will be seated in Small’s life for the rest of his career. Samuel Small will go again.