Tom Hardy was arrested for joyriding at 15

Tom Hardy was arrested for joyriding when he was 15.

The 39-year-old actor grew up in the suburb of East Sheen in South West London, and has said his "privileged and peaceful" upbringing pushed him to want to "f**k everything up" by stealing a car when he was just 15 years old.

He said: "It’s the suburbs, the life is so privileged and peaceful and so bloody dull, it gives you the instinctive desire to want to f**k everything up.

"I got arrested at 15 for joyriding in a stolen Mercedes. And for good measure there was a gun in the car.

"I just had to endanger myself – it was a kind of self-harming."

And the ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ actor says these desires are what drives him to take on "wretched characters" in his acting career.

He added: "I wish I could say I have outgrown it but violence still has a romance for me. That’s why I get cast as criminals, villains, wretched characters."

The ‘Taboo’ actor – who battled an addiction to alcohol and drugs – also opened up about his time in rehab where he learnt how to "manage" his demons.

He said: "I went in [to rehab] thinking I’d do it for a little bit until I can go out and drink and people forgive me.

"But I did my 28 days and, after listening to people who had been through similar circumstances, I realised I did have a problem. Now I know my beast and I know how to manage it."

Despite being in control of his addictions, Tom – who is married to actress Charlotte Riley and has eight-year-old son Louis from a former relationship with casting director Rachael Speed – says he could still "destroy everything" if he has too much to drink.

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "If I had four pints of lager and half a bottle of vodka I could turn this room into an absolute f***ing nightmare in about three minutes. I could destroy everything in my life I have worked so hard for."