He left his school days behind him to try his luck in Hollywood, and it looks like Brit teen Alex Pettyfer is enjoying every minute of the glamorous showbiz scene.
The young actor hit the Big Apple with new best friend Ewan McGregor this week as they attended the premiere of their flick Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker. And despite being just 16-years-old Alex seems to be taking the fame game in his stride, clearly at ease among some of Hollywood's most established actors.
Donning a tailored jacket and dark jeans the Stevenage-born actor was every inch the heart-throb as he arrived at the Intrepid Space and Air Museum for the screening alongside the Star Wars actor and Mickey Rourke.
Picked from over 500 boys to play the role of Secret Agent Alex Rider, the handsome newcomer spent four weeks doing martial-arts training, bodybuilding and an SAS army course to help him prepare for his action-packed movie debut.
"The most exciting thing was the quad bike scene," he declares. "There was a real chopper coming towards me as I was going about 45mph down a runway."
Tinseltown's leading men had better watch out. "I wouldn't mind Angelina Jolie by my side," Alex recently admitted after being compared to Brad Pitt. But it's Tom Cruise that he's hoping to emulate. "Hopefully I can do a fraction of what he's done," he said.