Charlie's a diamond geezer

Halfway into my conversation with Charlie Creed-Miles, held in the sunlit gardens of the Grand Hotel in Cannes, an oblivious German PR woman comes over and interrupts, unaware of who I'm talking to. 'Doesn't she know who I am?' whispers Creed-Miles, grinning all the while. 'I'm famous.'

His mock-concern is more than just good humour, though. Although he's been acting for almost 13 years, the 28-year-old only came to notice in 1997 for his stunning portrayal of a heroin addict in Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth. With his shaven hair, wiry frame and rough-hewn features, it was easy to see why some thought Creed-Miles was a non-professional, educated in the school of hard knocks.

'I am slightly afraid that people just think, "Oh, that's some boy dragged off the street to go and play in Nil By Mouth - he is the part!" And I do get that. Which I find a compliment, but not necessarily to what I want to become known for. But it's the last thing I should be worried about. I stand up for the parts I play, and I've tried to do them justice.'

The truth is, he - along with on-off (currently on) girlfriend Samantha Morton, the mother of his five-month-old daughter Esme - could well be the future of British acting. While Morton can currently be seen in her Oscar-nominated role as Sean Penn's squeeze in Woody Allen's Sweet And Lowdown, Creed-Miles is busy carving out a reputation for himself as the natural successor to his Nil By Mouth co-star Ray (or 'Raymond', as he calls him) Winstone. 'All my friends, we grew up saying [Winstone's oft-quoted line from Scum], "Who's the daddy now?"' recalls Creed-Miles, when I make the comparison. 'First time I met Raymond, I was completely awe-struck and terrified. And Oldman, of course, as well. I was lucky to have that opportunity to shine. I feel so blessed, and forever in debt to Gary for that. He's like Saint Oldman, from where I'm standing.'

For the record, Winstone believes Creed-Miles is 'the best actor in the country at the moment... the top of the list'. But this is no luvvie backslapping, as Creed-Miles's latest film, Essex Boys, proves. Co-starring Sean Bean and ER's Alex Kingston, the film is inspired, as the press notes tell us, 'by a single true event which happened in Essex in December 1995'. That being a drugs-related ambush, which left three men shot dead in a Range Rover, two serving life imprisonment and another living under a false identity. The rest, we are told, is fiction, but the death of a young girl in the film from a bad Ecstasy tablet evokes the fate of teenager Leah Betts.

'Everyone remembers that story,' says Creed-Miles, who plays the film's narrator Billy, a naive taxi driver who gets unwittingly sucked into the Essex underworld. 'I'm terrified of getting myself into trouble. It's a fine line to tread. But certainly, Leah Betts died tragically because she was given a pill. We know these things happen. The firm that this film is about controlled the drugs market in the clubs in Essex. They supply - and there's the connection.'

During the shoot, a number of relatives of those involved in the real-life incident turned up on set - people Creed-Miles says have 'a vested interest' in the outcome. As Creed-Miles says, Essex Boys has 'no fluff about it'.

Sipping his beer, his speech becomes highly charged. 'It infuriates me in one way, because I find people glorifying that world, and taking away from the fact that it is serious. People like this get up to some really horrible, nasty things. Let's not treat them like folk heroes. That's not my cup of tea. I believe it should be shown how it is. That's where I stand. I'm not a gangster. I know them. I haven't grown up with my head stuck up my arse. You see what you see and you know what you know. You have to know people to play them. You know what I'm saying?'

Certainly Creed-Miles gives a good impression of a decent bloke, the sort you might meet down your local boozer. A 'Londoner', as he describes himself, he's outwardly friendly, despite being guarded about his background. 'I don't talk about my parents. They're not in the business - which is nice.' What is clear is that Creed-Miles - a graduate of Anna Scher's stage school in Islington (past pupils include Kathy Burke and Phil Daniels) - was certainly destined to act. 'I think I've always had it in me. I was a hyperactive kid. The class clown almost. It's always been in there somewhere.'

Leaving school at 16, despite passing his GCSEs, Creed-Miles pursued his career in acting, soon landing a role in the popular kids' show Press Gang. Brief appearances in films Let Him Have It and London Kills Me followed, alongside TV sit-com work including Drop The Dead Donkey. His big break came, oddly enough, in Luc Besson's 1997 sci-fi extravaganza The Fifth Element, where he first teamed up with Gary Oldman. That he avoided capitalising on this success by selecting more mainstream fare was more to do with his integrity as an actor than lack of demand.

'I'm extremely picky and choosy,' he says, adding that he refuses to court the celebrity circuit that so many actors shackle themselves to. 'I hardly go out any more. I love dancing. I used to club a lot more than I do now. I'm a bit worried about what's happened to me, in some ways. Perhaps I'm growing up.' That would be fatherhood, one would think. 'It's just the most beautiful thing,' he says, smiling. 'I'm missing my daughter madly. I've not been away from her for this long [five days]. It's changed my life, though I've got to admit, it's still sinking in. It's bizarre - am I really a dad? What?'

Following a brief split shortly after Esme was born in February, Creed-Miles is back with Morton, whom he met long before they worked together on last year's quirky thriller The Last Yellow. 'She's a real special little lady,' he says. 'I love her enormously. What can you say about Sam? She's just cracking.'