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Chris O'Dowd used to look like 'Elephant Man'

Sep 21, 2012, 8:13 GMT

Chris O\'Dowd

Chris O'Dowd looked like the Elephant Man when he was younger.

The 32-year-old star - who married his TV presenter wife Dawn Porter last month - insists he wasn't 'one for the ladies' during his teenage years and has compared his unattractive looks to Joseph Merrick - who lived in London between 1862 and 1890 and was exhibited as a human curiosity due to his severely deformed physical appearance.

Thankfully for Chris, the comic actor's success with the ladies increased when he realised they 'like to laugh'.

He said: 'It's one thing to be tall now but I wasn't 'tall, strong and handsome' when I was 6ft aged 11.

'At that age, you look like some kind of b*****dised fern tree. I had a centre parting with curly hair. It was around the time of the Happy Mondays sort of curtains hairdo but mine was really frizzy.

'I was not one for the ladies. I was an altar boy for years. But around that time, I learned that women liked to laugh.

'So that was useful knowledge during the Elephant Man-esque era of my teens ... since then it's been all good.'

While Chris has received plenty of female attention following his portrayal of loveable police officer Nathan Rhodes in 2011 comedy movie 'Bridesmaids', he believes late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein - who was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity - would've been just as popular if he'd taken on the role.

He said: 'Any of the attention stuff is just because Rhodes is such a nice guy. If Saddam Hussein had played that character, women would have found him adorable. It's nothing to do with me.'

Chris was delighted to discover Angelina Jolie is one of his many female fans after finding out from her fiance Brad Pitt at the BAFTA awards earlier this year.

He added to The Sun newspaper: 'Brad was walking in front of us on the red carpet and I said, 'Good luck tonight', and he turned around and said, 'Oh my God, I love your movie. We watched it four times!'

'I was like, 'Oh my God, he means him and Angelina!' That's amazing ... that's f***ing crazy.'