“I saw Stormzy, bro!” shares 26-year-old actor Leo Woodall. “[I was at an event and] next to him was Louis Theroux. That was mental, and on the next table were Sydney Sweeney and Andrew Garfield. I chatted to a few people but I was more just like, ‘Don’t make a knob of yourself.’ So I remained a little bit inconspicuous.”

While the actor is aiming to actively avoid any obtrusive behaviour as he navigates the world of celebrity, his latest stint on our screens has been far from subtle. Making a splash – most noticeably by imparting ‘Cor, shit it’s cold! I’ve got sensitive nips!’ during his introductory scene – Woodall has stepped into the shoes of the brazen heartthrob, Jack, in the second season of the Emmy award-winning HBO drama anthology, The White Lotus; a character at the core of one of the season’s most outrageous plot twists. “I knew what was going to happen before I read the scripts. But I didn’t know what was going to lead to that scene or that it would be the last one in episode five. I took about ten seconds of silence to digest it when I found out because I’m such a huge fan of Tom [Hollander]. I was stoked enough that he was playing my uncle, and then suddenly I’m shagging him. I had to really digest it. It was such an explosive moment, and I was honoured to be a part of that.”

Granted, shagging one of the most prominent figures in Britain’s entertainment landscape is not what your average day in the office might entail, but this didn’t phase Woodall. “Anything that the show required from me, I was excited and gung-ho about. I wanted to make the most of this experience and enjoy it as much as I could, so I didn’t feel that many qualms about the intimate scenes. Both me and Tom were tiptoeing around it a little bit but when it came to the day we were like, ‘Let’s just do it!’ We had some fun, and we had some laughs. We chatted about what the best positions were – that’s how we kicked it off actually. But all joking aside, I’m in The White Lotus, doing a scene which is one of the big shocks of the series, and I’m doing it with Tom Hollander and Jennifer Coolidge. This is pretty fucking amazing!” he exclaims. “I’d never done an [intimate] scene with a bloke before, and I felt really honoured that my first was with Tom. And he was so professional, and he looked out for me. It was taken care of really well by the intimacy coordinator, Miriam Lucia.”

The season’s pivotal plot twist may have required Woodall to bare all, but arguably the characteristic requiring the most diligence was the accent that has become synonymous with his character – best described by Twitter users as putting the ‘sex in Essex.’ “Jack was so fleshed out on the page, and he is so specific thanks to the way that [the show’s creator] Mike White has written him. He’s not overly complicated. I knew what to do with him, plus I had watched enough of Joey Essex and The Only Way Is Essex to do the accent. I didn’t base him on Joey, but he was my first introduction to Essex-isms.”

Woodall launches himself into an uncanny rendition of Essex’s accent, proving that his thorough character study more than paid off. While Twitter is still reeling over the laddish charm that Woodall brought to his most recent performance, you’ll be pleased to know that he expels a similar energy in his every day. “We can both be quite cheeky,” he shares, comparing himself and Jack. “We both love a good time, we probably both got into some trouble,” he grins when contemplating the parallels between himself and his character. “But in all honesty, we are not that similar. I think about things way more than he does. I have a bit more compassion for people and people’s feelings; I worry constantly. That doesn’t really exist in him, which was actually quite refreshing to play to be honest.”

As we continue speaking, Woodall takes the time to reminisce over his childhood home. “I was living at [my family] home until I went to Sicily for The White Lotus, and then I came back and the house had been sold. Then I started filming One Day and didn’t have time to find a place, so I have just been bouncing around,” he shrugs. “It was really emotional. I remember the day I left, and I knew I wasn’t coming back. My mum and sister were in absolute pieces, and it really got me.”

His current housing situation may be up in the air, but career-wise, Woodall couldn’t be more grounded. His feet are already firmly planted in his next project, Netflix’s tragi-comic romantic drama, One Day, in which he is set to play the leading love interest, Dexter Mayhew. “I was in Sicily [when I found out that I had got the lead role]. I had gone through five or six separate audition rounds for the gig. I was fully invested in it, and I had two huge things going on in my life. One was The White Lotus, and the other was this gig that I was close to getting. It was a big deal, but quite a gruelling process. So, when I got the call I think I just lay on the floor and breathed out and was like, ‘Ah, fuck!’ It was more of a relief than excitement at first. But then I told Meghann [Fahy], and we all went out and had a mini celebration because I wasn’t really allowed to tell anyone.”

These primary roles are proving to be foundational to Woodall’s success, something that is most evident in his Instagram following which has more than tripled since our interview. So how does he feel about the mounting attention and publicity work required as an actor? “I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy it. I was stressed and anxious and thought, ‘Ah, this is just gonna be part of the job where if I’m lucky enough to keep working on good stuff, it is just going to be a part of the parcel.’ But then I started doing it, and the people that I’ve done all that stuff with have been absolutely top so far and it makes it more enjoyable. You saw me [on set] today, I was actually having fun!”

Growing up, Woodall was surrounded by a family of acting veterans, including the likes of his father, stepfather and grandmother. But, instead of the assumed inspiration that would stem from such an upbringing, Woodall was privy to an adverse effect. “I went to this school which was not a good school, to be honest. It was really rough. I think any sense of wanting to be an actor got immediately stomped on while I was there. I don’t know whether I actively didn’t want to do it, or I just wasn’t thinking about it. I wanted to be a stuntman when I was smaller, actually. I remember I used to drag the mattress off my bed and slide it down the stairs. I love that shit. When I was in stuntman mode, I was a pro! Outside of it, I was clumsy as hell. I had a couple of moments where I would fall off walls and crack open my head.” His lack of coordination was confirmed on the day of his shoot, during which he had a run-in with the photographer’s camera and knocked over a room divider, narrowly missing me.”

Given the context under which we are meeting, I am curious to hear what the rising star thinks moved him away from a life spent completing treacherous stunts and onto his current path. “It has to be in [my DNA] in some way. I didn’t want to do it at first because of the [family] history. Acting didn’t really grab me. But suddenly, at the age of 19, I felt like I had caught a bug and all of the history melted away.” And, thank God it did.

As we conclude our conversation, I am left assured that I was witnessing the beginnings of a monumental come-up, regardless of the actor’s nonchalance towards the seismic shift underway. And, I have no doubt that when the next exclusive event should present itself, the likes of Stormzy may well find themselves saying, “I saw Leo Woodall, bro!