Who is he?

A 19-year-old actor from Caerphilly whose film debut is hotly awaited – the Brit indie Submarine (out on 18 March). One critic compared his performance to a young Dustin Hoffman.

Wouldn't Anthony Hopkins more fitting – he's Welsh after all?

Not really. His character in the film is a deadpan 15-year-old schoolboy. The director gave him a trio of movies to prepare: The Graduate, Harold and Maude and Taxi Driver. This is a mean teen hero, obnoxious and grandiose, but oddly endearing, too.

What does he get up to?

Two goals: keeping his parents together and seducing the playground pyromaniac. Not one to let principles get in the way of progress, he resorts to despicable measures on both scores.

And why all the interest?

Word of mouth, mostly. Tickets sold out weeks before it screened at the London film festival. The director is actor Richard Ayoade (aka Moss from The IT Crowd), Ben Stiller is an exec producer and Arctic Monkey Alex Turner wrote songs for it.

Is this Roberts's first time in front of the camera?

No, he started acting at nine, mostly in kids' TV. He says he didn't have the physique for a rugby player.

What does Ayoade say about him?

He looked at hundreds of actors but liked Roberts because he had hair like a young Pete Townshend and bags under his eyes. "It was hard to believe he was that good. It took a long time to eliminate all the people who weren't Craig."

Cath Clarke