HEART-THROB Charlie Hunnam reckons his acting career is being blighted - because he looks too much like Brad Pitt.

The North-East star, whose new movie, Nicholas Nickleby, premiered last night, is compared to the Hollywood hunk wherever he goes.

It even cost him a role in Troy, which looks destined to be a worldwide smash.

He auditioned for the part of Paris in the £107m epic but was beaten to it by Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom.

Director Wolfgang Peterson feared that if Hunnam got the role, audiences would be confused into thinking Paris was the brother of Achilles, played by Pitt.

The 23-year-old, who moved to Hollywood five years ago, said: "If I walk down the street or through an airport, there's always someone who'll yell 'yo Brad'.

"It's flattering, but at the same time it's kind of annoying as well. It isn't helping my career."

Nicholas Nickleby has already shot Newcastle-born Hunnam into the Hollywood big league and it is expected to be a hit in Britain as well.

Its stars, including Teessider Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent and Christopher Plummer, were at The Odeon in Leicester Square for last night's glittering opening.

But Charlie, and girlfriend Stella Parker, a 25-year-old costume designer, also attended a charity screening in Newcastle on Friday night.

His father, Billy, 52, a Tyneside scrap metal dealer, joined him for a family gathering in the city he left as a 12-year-old when his parents separated.

He made his acting debut as an 18-year-old in the hit Channel Four series Queer As Folk, in which he played gay teenager Nathan.

Hunnam next appears on the big screen playing an albino killer in Cold Mountain. Released worldwide on Christmas Day, it also stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellwegger.