Former Child Actor Reveals What It’s Like To Be A Student At Cambridge

Twelve-year-old Skandar Keynes was attending a small acting class after school when a casting agent walked in and thought, with his mop of dark brown hair and rosy cheeks, Keynes looked right for the part. He was searching for an Edmund Pevensie for the film adaptation of the classic children’s books by C.S. Lewis.

Seven years later, the “Chronicle of Narnia” franchise — including “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” “Prince Caspian,” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” — raked in a lifetime gross of over $ 500 million and made Keynes an international celebrity.

After the London-born actor wrapped the third installment in 2010, he entered Cambridge University for an adventure of a new kind.

As part of our Incredibly Impressive Students At Cambridge University series, Business Insider spoke with Keynes about his studies, professors who tease, and his post-graduation plans.

Business Insider: The University of Cambridge has no formal drama department, which would seem like a natural fit for you. What major did you select instead?

Keynes: I actually study Arabic, Persian (Farsi), and Middle Eastern History.

That’s unexpected. What sparked your interest?

My mother is Lebanese, but I wasn’t brought up speaking Arabic. We would go to Lebanon every year, but I was always frustrated by not being able to speak the language myself. So I first approached my course of study out of a desire to put that frustration behind me.

Since the beginning, I’ve been captivated by the history, politics, and culture of the wider Middle East and North Africa region. I took up Persian in order to broaden my horizons even further.

The last film in the “Chronicles of Narnia” trilogy wrapped in 2010, the year you entered Cambridge. So you had to make a choice: keep acting or push pause. How’d you decide?

I had found an area of study and a course that I was really passionate about. I couldn’t rationalize delaying that opportunity. And I wasn’t convinced that I could effectively balance the two at the same time and be able to achieve what I wanted to achieve at university.

While Emma Watson attended Brown, rumors spread that students would pipe up in class and say, “10 points for Gryffindor” when she answered a question correctly. Did you ever encounter teasing like that?

Every so often a lecturer might pluck up the courage to make a little sheepish reference, but either they don’t care or they are too embarrassed to mention it.

Cambridge has been a great environment to meet some really interesting people and freely discuss all sorts of ideas. Bouncing ideas around with top academics in the classroom or with fellow students in the pub has been incredibly fulfilling.

You graduate this spring. Looking back, what’s been most memorable about your college experience?

Being able to go to Lebanon last year and have meaningful conversations and bond with people whom I’ve known all my life — but have never been able to communicate with — was something special.

And will we be seeing you on the big screen anytime soon?

Hopefully whatever I do will be related to my studies so I haven’t just wasted four years of my life! Not many employers seem to actively target Middle Eastern Studies students, probably because there are so few of us. I have a couple internships lined up and am looking forward to exploring different avenues before I make any definitive [career] choice.

SEE ALSO: 16 Incredibly Impressive Students At Cambridge University

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Former Child Actor Reveals What It’s Like To Be A Student At Cambridge