He's one of the busiest actors in television.

But Tom Hollander once had a different plan to reach success, considering letting himself go to become a 'fat actor' so he would always get work.

Speaking to Ruthie's Table podcast, with River Cafe owner Ruth Rogers, the White Lotus star said: 'I did sometimes think, I'll get to a certain age and then I'll give up trying to not be fat and then I'll just become a fat actor because fat actors, they never stop working.'

He also admitted that he has a 'little bit of a compulsion to overeat,' adding that he gains weight in between jobs and then loses it before taking on a new role.

'There's always room for a fat actor - Orson Welles or the dear Richard Griffiths, you think they're loved,' said Mr Hollander, who is 5'5'.

Tom Hollander admits that he once considered letting himself go to become a 'fat actor' so he would always get work

Hollander, pictured in Feud: Capote Vs The Swans, also revealed he weight to a clinic in Austria recently to help him lose weight

Mr Hollander, 56, has also won roles in The Night Manager, Pirates of the Caribbean and most recently in a West End theatre show, Patriots.

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But today, just months after he became a father for the first time with his girlfriend Fran Hickman, he says he wants to live for as long as he can.

Mr Hollander, who named his son Kit, revealed that he went to a clinic in Austria to lose weight recently.

He added: 'I'm always trying to discipline myself but I do have a tendency to, I love eating, and I also eat my feelings which people do and if you do it too much it's not good for you so I do other things.

'If you do it too much, it's not good for you so I try to do other things with my feelings.

'To be at war with food, which you can be, is not good and I do have a sense of that because being an actor where you become inevitably obsessed with your appearance.

'It has a tendency to make you think "I mustn't eat, I mustn't eat, I mustn't eat, so I'm beautiful, beautiful, beautiful".

'It's never really made any difference.

Mr Hollander, 56, has also won roles in The Night Manager, Pirates of the Caribbean and most recently in a West End theatre show, Patriots

'But I can't do that, I don't want to do that, because I now need to live as long as I can.'

The Mail revealed that Mr Hollander and Ms Hickman, 43, were expecting their first child last summer.