In the film A Different Man, Sebastian Stan plays a New Yorker with facial disfigurement who gets to experience what life would be like if he looked like everyone else, after his condition is ‘cured’ by a medical trial.
He stars alongside British actor Adam Pearson, 39, who deals with the reality of facial disfigurement every day – after non-cancerous tumours began growing uncontrollably on his face when he was a child due to a rare genetic condition.
His appearance meant he was called ‘Quasimodo’ and ‘Scarface’ at school and is still constantly stared at in public, and yet – just like in A Different Man – he’s also had that parallel experience of seeing how his life could have been different.
Croydon-born Adam has an identical twin brother Neil, who has the same genetic condition but does not have tumours on his face.
It would have been easy for Adam to become depressed at the stark difference between the brothers’ appearances, and yet he has never succumbed to bitterness, saying: ‘It’s about the life you have, not the one you don’t. It wasn’t an emotionally productive thing to do.
‘For me, it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s very much a part of me. It would have been like asking: “Why am I this tall?”.’
His incredible life story on top of his ‘scene-stealing’ performance in A24’s A Different Man, which is released in the UK today after winning rave reviews in America, looks set to propel the actor to a new level of stardom.
Adam (pictured left) and Neil Pearson (pictured right) in the documentary Horizon: My Amazing Twin
The British actor’s face has been left disfigured by non-cancerous tumours that began growing uncontrollably when he was a child (pictured)
As young children, the twin brothers (pictured) looked so similar that their mother often mixed them up – but aged five, Adam fell over and bumped his forehead – but the lump never went down
Adam first hit the screen as the memorable face of Channel 4’s groundbreaking series Beauty And The Beast: The Ugly Face Of Prejudice.
The show paired up those with facial disfigurements with image-obsessed WAGs, to explore society’s fixation with physical perfection.
Before his first acting role, Adam was a researcher for the BBC and Channel 4, where he was the casting researcher for The Undateables, before going on to make documentaries, including the BBC’s Horizon: My Amazing Twin in 2016 in which he and his brother discussed genetics.
He also presented critically acclaimed documentaries Adam Pearson: Freak Show (BBC Three) and The Ugly Face Of Disability Hate Crime (BBC Three).
In 2013, he starred alongside Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin, his first ever acting role, but A Different Man looks set to propel him into a new league of stardom.
In the film, Sebastian’s character transforms his appearance, but is then crushed when he loses the opportunity to portray himself in a play based on his life to another actor (played by Adam) with a facial disfigurement – and he becomes obsessed about what he has lost.
It debuted in January to much acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival and has already won rave reviews in the US.
Pearson himself told The Independent, it’s ‘the biggest thing I’ve done. It’s the breakout,’ while director Aaron Schimberg said that by the end of the movie, everyone will fully believe that Marvel hero Sebastian Stan is ‘jealous’ of Adam Pearson.
‘People are coming away from it feeling like Adam is a star,’ he said.
It’s an incredible success story for the actor who grew up in Croydon with his parents Marilyn and Patrick, and twin brother Neil.
As babies, Adam and Neil looked so similar that their mother often mixed them up – but aged five, Adam fell over and bumped his forehead – but the lump never went down.
Eventually, he was referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital where a scan showed there was a tumour in his neck blocking his windpipe.
This marked the start of many operations to remove the growths, with Adam undergoing 39 surgeries to remove excess tumours and losing his vision in one eye.
Symptoms of Neil’s condition did not appear until July 1999, when the twins were 14 years old.
The pair were standing outside a youth club when Neil asked where they had been, and over the next few weeks his confusion continued – he was sleeping a lot and couldn’t remember what day it was.
Doctors discovered he has lost his short term-memory, and revealed he too was beginning to show symptoms of NF1.
A year later, he was diagnosed with epilepsy after suffering fits.
Neil, who now works as a library assistant as a medical school – has to stick to a rigid schedule in order to cope with his memory loss.
He’s won rave reviews for his portrayal in Sebastian Stan ‘s new thriller A Different Man – with critics labelling his performance as ‘scene-stealing’, ‘off the charts’ and a ‘revelation’
If he breaks from the set order of his day he begins to become confused and questions whether he has done things.
Despite the challenges both face, Neil also insists that neither twin would want to be different.
‘You’ve got to live the life you’ve got, rather than pining after the one you wanted,’ he said.
Adam also insists he’s never felt sorry for himself, despite the fact that when films such as the Elephant Man or The Hunchback of Notre Dame were shown on TV, he would be called that nickname the next day at school.
During his school years, he described himself as being ‘wildly unpopular’ but admitted that he handled things ‘badly’.
‘You try ignoring it for a while, but that can only take you so far. Then I decided the best form of defence is attack, so I was eviscerating people in the playground,’ he told the Big Issue.
‘If I could go back, I’d do it differently. I’d say, “You’re better than this. Grow up and stop insulting people”. I needed a bit of tough love.’
Adam Pearson’s (pictured right) life hasn’t been all sunshine and roses; the British actor’s face has been left disfigured by non-cancerous tumours that began growing uncontrollably when he was a child (pictured left)
He has previously admitted that his ‘disability has opened way more doors than it’s closed’, referring to how his big break came about in Under the Skin, in which he starred opposite Scarlett Johansson (pictured right)
Meanwhile, Adam’s new movie A Different Man hit headlines last month after Sebastian Stan (pictured left) called out a reporter for describing his character as a ‘beast’ at the Berlin Film Festival
But despite the difficulties he’s faced, Adam remains charming, friendly and positive – jokingly insisting that he is ‘God’s favourite disabled guy’.
He told People: ‘You can get bogged down in, “It’s not fair. Why is life so cruel?” It doesn’t solve anything.’
‘I’m liked, and luckily people seem to get on board with what I do,’ Adam told the outlet.
He even admitted that his ‘disability has opened way more doors than it’s closed’, referring to how his big break came about in Under the Skin, in which he starred opposite Scarlett Johansson.
The actor was working in TV production when he was contacted by a charity for facial differences, revealing how the movie was looking for an actor with a disfigurement.
Adam replied saying he’d be willing ‘as a bit of a joke’, and thought no more about it – but he was eventually cast, appearing opposite one of the most beautiful women in the world – and for much of the time, both were naked in the film.
Scarlett played an alien who travelled around Scotland in a van seducing men then doing horrible things to them. But meeting Adam’s character was a turning point.
‘When people see a beautiful actress next to someone who is facially disfigured, they think he must be the bad guy. But in this film, I’m the victim. It’s an interesting twist,’ Adam explained in 2014, at the time of the film.
‘And my vulnerability shows her something about humanity that changes her.’ He added: ‘In the end, the nude scene was a bigger deal for her than it was for me. I’m totally comfortable in my own skin. The worst part was that I was bloody cold.’
Writing for the Daily Mail previously, Adam said he would love to play a Bond villain – but only if he was evil for the way he behaved, and not the way he looked.
‘It would be an opportunity to raise the profile of people like me who have a condition that affects their appearance,’ he said.
‘What I hope I can do is help to create a society where grown-ups don’t hold these immature, naïve prejudices.’
Speaking to The Guardian recently to promote his new film, Adam revealed how some of his fans still expect him to be able to change his looks eventually through more operations, but it would be impossible.
‘All these tumours are wrapped around blood vessels and nerves, and I don’t think people realise that. People say, “just get surgery”, and I’m like: “Bruh, this is after surgery”,’ recalled the actor.
Adam (pictured in September 2024 in France) is an ambassador for The Childhood Tumour Trust and has won the RADAR Award and a Diana Award for his campaigning efforts
Before his first acting role, Adam was a researcher for the BBC and Channel 4, before going on to make documentaries, including the BBC’s Horizon: My Amazing Twin in 2016 in which he and his brother discussed genetics
Adam appeared in Celebrity Masterchef in Season 17 in 2022
Meanwhile, he is an ambassador for The Childhood Tumour Trust and has won the RADAR Award and a Diana Award for his campaigning efforts.
Revealing why being an avid disability rights campaigner is so important to him, he told The Guardian: ‘I care about advocacy. Whereas other people might be, ‘that’s not my job to explain it to you’. But then whose is it? Who is better equipped to do it than me?
‘So, if me talking about it ad nauseam, until I get bored, and that means someone like me gets an easier ride, and it makes the world a better place, then rock and roll. It’s not all about me… It should be, but it’s not.’
