Suffolk actor Adam Basil from Aldeburgh stars in HBO's The Last of Us as 'The Bloater' villain

An actor from Suffolk has stolen the show as a grotesque villain in a TV series that is currently taking the world by storm.

Adam Basil, from Aldeburgh, recently appeared as The Bloater in episode five of HBO’s The Last of Us, which has received great acclaim for its adaptation of the video game.

The 32-year-old, who played as Tom Hardy's stunt double in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, has also worked on Game of Thrones, Avengers: Age of Ultron, the latest James Bond film No Time to Die and Beauty and the Beast.

Since the release of the post-apocalyptic drama's fifth epsiode, Mr Basil can't believe how much interest he has attracted online.

He said: “It’s just been incredible really, I didn’t ever expect the attention I’ve had to be honest.

“It's funny because I’ve played characters like the beast in Beauty and the Beast, or in Venom and stuff like that, but it’s this particular role that’s made me go a bit viral. I’ve had so many people flock to my social media and loads of people globally making Tiktok videos too, I’ve even got an interview with an American TV channel later.

“I did not expect to have thousands of people going to my Instagram page and being really interested in something, where I just didn't have that interest before which is amusing.”

Mr Basil got the role in The Last Of Us through knowing Barrie Gower, who is the creator behind the creatures and prosthetics of Game of Thrones and Stranger Things.

The British prosthetic makeup designer reached out to Mr Basil as the creatures were being made in England and they needed a local performer and due to his 6ft 6 frame, he fitted the stature needed for the monster.

However, the scenes for the show were filmed in Calgary, Canada where temperatures were minus 40 degrees, but that didn’t stop Mr Basil from enjoying his experience and he revealed how the monster prosthetic suit was fitted on him.

“Barrie is honestly so brilliant, they’ve done such a good job with the show and it was a great experience,” he said.

“With the suit, it’s a type of prosthetic that is actually a bodysuit and goes on in sections. There’s the two legs, two arms, the body and then the head. You’re really earning your money when the head is on, because the visibility becomes quite lessened and your senses get quite dulled down, you also have the weight of the suit which is probably like 40 kilos.

“Because it was built around my body, it fits perfectly well and the sections are all hooked on so it feels tight, when you move it moves. It’s pretty full on for the guys who are the Clickers (a variety of infected) as in they’re in for four hours of makeup every day, whereas it takes about an hour to get my suit on.

“In the suit you didn’t notice the cold either, which was quite nice.”

Mr Basil has previously worked with the show's lead, Pedro Pascal, on Game of Thrones.

He opened up about the ups and downs of his job as well as the most impressive achievement of his career so far.

The actor said: “With the stuff that I do I’m very lucky as I’m normally just a big fan of the films and the shows, but there’s pros and cons because sometimes you see spoilers before they come out which isn’t great.

“I’ve had a lot of variety with different films which is really interesting for me. I remember I used to imagine having 10 credits, and then all of a sudden I’ve now got over 100.

“A few years ago now, I was booked in for two days at Imaginarium Productions, which is Andy Serkis’ motion capture studio. I went and I didn’t expect him to be there but he was actually there and honestly he’s just amazing.

“He handed me the script of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and we had good fun with it, and then a little bit down the line I was then booked in for three months to play Venom, which was really good. Just to work with Andy Serkis was fantastic to be honest.”

Despite starting his career in theatre trying to get acting work, Mr Basil met a stuntman coordinator who suggested the British Stunt Register, which he then began training for.

After embarking on his stunt career, he had to move away from Aldeburgh to London in 2011, as he became very busy with work and had to be in the capital city all the time.

In the future, Mr Basil is set to appear as an orc in season two of The Rings of Power and as a guest lead in two episodes of TV series Django, and despite his regular travels abroad, he still returns to his hometown often.

“I still come to Suffolk regularly for the Aldeburgh Carnival and I’ve still got friends and family there, including my brother who still lives there.

“My granny lives in Beccles and mum lives in Ely, so yes I’m definitely still a Suffolk boy.

“It is a beautiful county and I think saying it's underrated seems like a negative way of putting it, but it's a lesser known county and a fraction of the cost of London which is always a bonus.”