After playing a young William Wallace in Braveheart he walked away from acting - now James Robinson

HE SHOT to fame as Scotland’s greatest hero.

But just as James Robinson found the world at his feet following a star turn as the young William Wallace in Braveheart, he decided to walk away from acting.

He was deluged with offers after the film’s massive global success.

But instead of jumping on the Hollywood bandwagon, the young Scot turned them all down so he could enjoy his childhood, play football in the park with his pals and leave career choices until he was older.

And now, 20 years after he started work as the young Wallace in Mel Gibson’s modern classic, he is back acting and building a successful career on stage and screen.

James, now 30, from Ayr, has worked on massive TV shows such as The Borgias and Babylon as well as films including The Wee Man, and is about to start a run with the National Theatre of Scotland.

But while he is delighted with his decision to postpone his acting career in the midst of the Wallace hype, he admits everything he has done in acting is down to his work on the movie.

Braveheart is getting a special 20th anniversary relaunch on DVD and Blu Ray next week and the Record’s sister paper, the Sunday Mail, is giving away a free poster this weekend to mark the 20 years since Gibson started cameras rolling in Scotland.

James said: “The only reason I’m acting is because of Braveheart, and I have a lot to thank Mel Gibson for.

“I had never acted and after the film came out, there was a lot of buzz
about me.

“My mum and dad sat me down and said that theatre schools were coming to talk about me and that I had options and one might be that I’d have had to board in London, leave my family and friends.

“They asked me what I wanted to do and I said I didn’t know what I’d do – I might want to be a cartoonist, a vet or a fireman, because I didn’t know whether acting was definitely the thing for me.

“I said I wanted to be with my friends playing football and doing what kids do. People have asked if I regret not being pushed forward and I absolutely don’t. I was never really a child star in Macaulay Culkin territory – it was one film I did when I was 10 that happened to be one of the most successful films of all time.

“It might have been different with the internet and the way the world is a lot smaller. I had the best upbringing. I played football, made mistakes, had fun and enjoyed a normal childhood.”

While James still has the same blue-eye stare that won him the part as a young Wallace/Gibson, he is not obviously recognisable as the 10-year-old freedom fighter in waiting.

But he said his time on the film laid all the foundations for his current acting career.

“I’d worked in this grown-up industry as a professional actor for those five weeks I was away and it was very much an eye opener. I learned a lot,” he added.

“Braveheart prepared me for the realities of the business. Most people just see the finished article and the success with the five Oscars.

But I saw the work and graft that went into it – it was just gobsmacking to see how much hard work and effort goes into it. Mel Gibson was amazing, I’m surprised he didn’t work himself into the ground because he must have only got four hours’ sleep a night.

“That made me realise that the industry was about hard work and not flashbulbs and neon lights, so I went into it knowing how tough it can be.

“That’s why I went to college and drama school. I didn’t want to be the guy who walks on to film sets saying,
‘I was in this big film 10 years ago’ and thinking I deserved to be there, I wanted to learn, to make mistakes.”

James is a hard-working actor indeed. He has recently played a small role in Danny Boyle’s Babylon and has worked on well-known TV shows such as Doctors and Casualty.

Think you know Braveheart? Check out Scotland Now's quiz on the blockbuster

His biggest TV work has been a recurring part in the US-made papal drama The Borgias. He was also in Glasgow gangster drama The Wee Man, as well as staying busy on stage.

And while his current career path is very different from the child star route he could have taken 20 years ago, he remains proud of his Braveheart roots.

He said: “Anywhere around the world, everyone associates being Scottish with Braveheart and people say it to me all the time even when they don’t know I’m in the film. My stand-out memories are just how happy everyone was on set and how generous Mel was with his very precious time.

“He was always on hand, cool as a cucumber. He would wait in the lunch queue behind 30 or 40 people and he loved chatting and spending time with the cast and crew.”

As Scotland celebrates 20 years since the Braveheart phenomena rolled into town, there’s a slightly more civil and less bloody campaign of independence being fought across the country.

Based in London, James cannot vote in the September 18 referendum and said he is still undecided. But he hopes Scots vote with their heads and not their hearts.

■ Don’t miss your free Braveheart poster with this weekend’s Sunday Mail. Pick up at Spar. Scotland only. Offer subject to availability. See paper for details.

■ Braveheart is released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on Monday from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

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