The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Star Alex Sharp on Rats, Beer & New York City

Age: 25

Hometown: London, England

Current Role: A Broadway debut as Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome who investigates the murder of his neighbor's pooch, in the New York transfer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Stage Cred: Sharp graduated from The Juilliard School in May, where he performed in over a dozen productions, including Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard and A Clockwork Orange.

"I never adjusted to the normal schooling system. I could never just sit still at a desk, so my mother homeschooled me while we traveled North America and Europe. I was climbing all over castles and then learning about the history of them."

"Juilliard was a fairly traumatic experience. Having my life mapped out for me 14 hours a day for three years was terrifying. It felt like I was in the Army. But it’s amazing because you can go in and be sh*t and really work out who you are as an actor."

"I learned to build tables to pay my rent. I found all these distressed wood tables for sale at extraordinary prices online, so I went to Home Depot, got the materials, made the tables and started selling them. I don’t do it anymore. I have a more glamorous job now."

"Toby the Rat is a real rat. I haven’t met it yet, but I have mixed emotions. I'm not overly familiar with rats as pets, but I’m an animal lover, so I’m sure I’ll grow to love it."

"I used to drink beer and smoke cigarettes but that’s gone. No room to do that now! But I love to read, and I recently finished The Goldfinch. I’ve written journals about hitchhiking through South America, and I’m trying to turn them into a screenplay."

"New York City is such a massive, buzzing, high-strung melting pot. On the subway, I look around at other people and I think about where they’re from and what their experiences are. I miss access to countryside, but the city feels like home."