Tyger Drew-Honey was just 11 when he was plucked from obscurity and cast as first-born sibling Jake Brockman in smash TV hit, Outnumbered.
He was spotted by an agent while playing a comedy part in Treasure Island at the private and exclusive Danes Hill School in Oxshott in a move that would change his life forever.
However, even before then, Tyger's childhood had not been your average one.
The star - who turns 25 today - is the son of one of the UK's most famous porn stars, Ben Dover, and his porn actress ex-wife Linzi Drew.
Ben - real name Simon Lindsay Honey - has starred in more than 130 x-rated films; directed more than 120 and was named by Hustler magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in porn.
In 2009 he boasted that he'd slept with 1,792 women and revealed he owned a fleet of supercars and called a £2million Surrey mansion with its own swimming pool home.
Linzi was also a big deal in the adult entertainment business and worked as a stripper, Page 3 actress and porn star as well as being editor of Penthouse magazine.
She even appeared naked on the cover of Pink Floyd star Roger Water's solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, but quit at 41 to have Tyger.
Tyger was born Lindzi James Drew-Honey - a blend of his parents' names. But a problem with his vocal chords led to his nickname 'Tiger' being added.
“My mum is Linzi and my Dad is Lindsay, and because my parents are so imaginative they combined the two and called me Lindzi,” he told Essential Surrey.
“But when I was born, I had a problem with my vocal chords: they were too close together and didn’t vibrate as they should have done. So, for the first months of my life I was very growly and they nicknamed me Tiger.”
Tyger was aware of his parents' past from a young age, describing them as being 'very open' about their careers. And as a result of their millions, he enjoyed a privileged childhood of luxury holidays and a private education at some of the area's most exclusive schools.
He continued: "People think it must all have been seedy and druggy, but I had a very pleasant and very warm upbringing. Also, the money that my parents made from porn enabled them to send me to really good schools and have a really good life.”
Indeed, Lindsay once said their professions hadn't hindered their only child in any way.
“My job hasn’t held my son back. He’s head boy," he told The Sun in 2009.
“I was also at a barbecue last week with his headmaster. We have some very rich and powerful neighbours and I get on well with them all.
“I think they like the fact I’m a porn star. It makes me different from the usual people they meet.”
The only fly in the ointment were school bullies who weren't quite so open minded and tried to torment Tyger over his background.
"I did get upset, not because of what they were saying but why they were saying it," he said previously.
"Why were they trying to hurt me? It made me think they didn’t like me. That’s what I couldn’t understand; I wouldn’t want to deliberately upset someone."
Lindsay and Linzi - who is the author or erotic novels Every Shade of Blue and Every Shade of Black - separated in 2010 but remain on good terms and are extremely close to their son.
And when Lindsay was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2016 aged 60, Tyger was understandably devastated.
“I’m going through chemotherapy. It has made me very weak and tired,” the adult entertainer told The Sun at the time.
“It has really knocked me and Tyger back. I’ve already had two operations and need more chemo to nip it in the bud before it goes through the wall.
“Tyger was devastated when I told him and a bit fraught but we will get through."
After a year of gruelling treatment at St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, Lindsay was delighted to be given the all clear.
"Tyger has been brilliant," he proudly said of the support he'd received from his son.
"Like me he was really upset when we first learned the news, but he's been there for me all the way - especially during the dark days."
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