&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/6543?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=First+sight%3A+Tom+Cullen%3AArticle%3A1646912&amp;ch=Culture&amp;c3=Guardian&amp;c4=Film%2CFestivals+%28Culture%29%2CCulture&amp;c5=Not+commercially+useful&amp;c6=Cath+Clarke&amp;c7=11-Oct-13&amp;c8=1646912&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=Feature&amp;c11=Culture&amp;c13=First+sight+%28Music+and+film+series%29&amp;c25=&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FCulture%2FFestivals&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;An actor who stars in a tiny British film that has exploded into a breakout hit&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who is he?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A 26-year-old actor from Cardiff who reckons he&#039;s the jammiest man alive. That&#039;s after starring in a tiny British film, Weekend &ndash; shot over 17 days in Nottingham &ndash; which has exploded into one of 2011&#039;s breakout hits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What kind of breakout are we talking about: studio bidding wars and sell-out multiplex runs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No &ndash; the kind that points to big, bright futures for everyone involved. The buzz started at SXSW, which had to put on extra screenings. They queued round the block at one cinema when it opened in New York after the NY Times called it &quot;one of the most satisfying love stories you are likely to see on screen this year.&quot; Cullen plays Russell, who&#039;s gay and spends the weekend with a guy he picks up at a bar &ndash; think Before Sunrise. He says he related instantly to his&amp;nbsp;character.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How so?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Russell is a bit lost, trying to work out where he fits in with the&amp;nbsp;world. Cullen himself came to acting later than most. In his own words: &quot;I fell in love with a girl. We had a house and a dog. I found myself working in this restaurant, a bit fat, depressed.&quot; He woke up one morning, applied to drama school and never looked back. And while he might be jammy, his natural, fearless turn in Weekend happens to be dazzling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What next?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An HBO series, then Charlie Brooker&#039;s latest TV venture. And he is nominated for best British newcomer at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;London film festival&lt;/a&gt;, where Weekend screens tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/festivals&quot;&gt;Festivals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;author&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/cathclarke&quot;&gt;Cath Clarke&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html&quot;&gt;Terms &amp; Conditions&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds&quot;&gt;More Feeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;clear:both&quot; /&gt;