Actor and documentary maker John Connors has told RTÉ Entertainment that the "bit of fame" he has experienced since starring in Love/Hate and making documentaries has proven to be the hardest part of the job.
Connors is back on the big screen from this weekend in the acclaimed crime-thriller Cardboard Gangsters, a film guaranteed to raise his profile even higher around the country - and beyond.
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While welcoming the recognition of his work, he told RTÉ Entertainment that life in the public eye is another learning experience.
"I'm a very private person," he said. "I got into Love/Hate and then I got a different demographic from the documentaries.
"I try my best not to be a ***** because I realise it's the first time that person has come up to you. They don't realise 50 people have come up to you that night, mouldy drunk and being aggressive sometimes.
"Sometimes asking for fights - I've got that loads of times. I got the racism kind of stuff [too]. You bite your tongue and do the Martin Luther King thing."
"But sometimes people come up and they're so genuine," he continued. "You go, 'What I'm doing's not too bad - someone's actually been affected [by it]'. Especially with the documentaries, because they're real.
"It's been hard dealing with it, but I'm kind of finding my way to dealing with it now."
Asked what he had learned about himself along the way, Connors replied: "I've grown with patience."
"I never had patience; I was always a very impatient person," he admitted. "Still don't [have patience] in loads of ways.
"If my friends want to go out at 9 o'clock to a pub I'm ready at half seven saying, 'Where are ya?' That's how impatient I am! But I've learned to have patience."
"Also," Connors concluded. "When people approach you in a certain way, give them a little chance. You might actually learn something, or have the craic with them."
Read our review of Cardboard Gangsters here.
