After 20 years in the business, there are a few things that Will Poulter has noticed about his public perception, and theyve been coming up a lot lately. The first is that few people can accept the fact that he really is British. When he appeared in a surprise guest role on season two of The Bear as the soft-spoken and heavily tattooed English pastry chef Luca, his West London accent was so authentic, nobody believed it was real. He remembers getting a review in which the critic wrote Will Poulter does his best attempt at a British accent

People are also commenting on my height, he goes on, referencing the second thing the public gets wrong about him. Everyone says, Youre taller than I thought youd be. I never know what to say I grew up short, and it very much formed my entire personality. So, I guess Im taller than I thought I would be, too. The good news for Poulter (who, for the record, is 6-foot-3), though, is that this spring audiences will be getting a closer measure of the actor, as he happens to be starring in some of the seasons buzziest films, playing a Navy SEAL in Alex Garlands Warfare, the son of Canadian billionaires in Death of a Unicorn and a young Kansas husband home from the Korean War in the 1950s period piece On Swift Horses.

Now 32, Poulter has been acting since middle school, when he was cast as one of the 12-year-old leads of 2008s Son of Rambow. I was like, This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, he says of that quirky comedys eight-week shoot over his summer vacation.

He eventually enrolled in a drama program at the University of Bristol but left after a year when he booked small roles in the YA sci-fi flick The Maze Runner and a much-noticed part in Were the Millers, the Jennifer Aniston blockbuster about drug smugglers posing as the perfect family.

Right around the time The Millers was putting Poulter on Hollywoods radar, Garlands directorial debut, the slick sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, arrived in theaters, and Poulter decided then and there that he had to work with the director. Over the years, he would audition for several of Garlands projects, to no avail, then finally got word that he was making something new and was open to meeting. It was a real holy shit moment, he says.

It was quickly followed by another four-letter word moment. Then I heard it was Warfare and my heart sunk, Poulter says. Like, truly, fuck.

Poulters politics are strongly progressive, and he had concerns about the way the combat film canon often borders on propaganda. He wasnt sure Warfare was the right fit for him. Once he met with Garland, though, he came around, realizing that Garlands film co-directed with former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, whod served as military consultant on Garlands Civil War would challenge the status quo of the genre. The movie, stripped of the usual soaring score and quippy dialogue, captures 90 minutes of a SEAL teams mission in Ramadi, Iraq, showing the horrors of an IED explosion playing out in real time.

It was one of the most transformative experiences Ive ever had, he says of the shoot.

Poulter in Alex Garlands Warfare. Courtesy of A24 Death of a Unicorn was transformative as well, in its own way. Poulter plays a radically un-self-aware scion of a billionaire family in A24s absurdist comedy about wealth and privilege (which also stars Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd and Ta Leoni). Its his first comedy since The Millers, and he pestered Unicorn director Alex Scharfman mercilessly for the part. He was like, I cant face another email from this kid Ill just say yes, Poulter explains of how he got the gig.

Then theres also his role opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi in the queer-tinged romantic drama On Swift Horses, a movie thats not going to help much with the public perception that hes not really British (this time, hes doing a Kansas accent). Later this year, hell also be in Boots Rileys next project, I Love Boosters, alongside a host of hot young actors like Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige and LaKeith Stanfield.

And, of course, theres always a chance hell be back, genuine accent and all, for the fourth season of The Bear. I never wanted to work in an office, and academically I was a flop, so traditional work environments made me feel like a failure, Poulter says. But being on set, thats where I felt like I was meant to be.

This story appeared in the April 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.