London, Dec 2: Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has claimed that Dustin Hoffman is inspiring his ambitions to be a leading man.
The 23-year-old actor will next be appearing in the upcoming Kill Your Darlings, starring as the poet Allen Ginsberg.
Radcliffe said that he wants to follow in the footsteps of his idol Hoffman and is looking at the veteran star and his career, reported Daily Star.
"The person I've been looking at is Dustin Hoffman. In fact, I passed him the other day and he is absolutely on the shorter side, as am I.
But he was in all those great roles, from action thrillers to romantic stuff. So there is a way of doing it unconventionally if you don't necessarily look like the 6ft romantic lead," he said.
Radcliffe also said that his controversial role in the explicit stage play Equus in 2007 helped establish him as a serious actor.
"Doing Equus was important. It showed people that I wasn't just here to capitalise on the Potter fame for as long as I could. I think ultimately, I'm ambitious because I want to prove everyone wrong who thinks that it's impossible to emerge from Harry Potter and do well," he added.
Radcliffe was named the fifth best-value actor (based on salary to movie-gross ratio) in Hollywood in a recent list, placing behind Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, Shia LaBeouf and Robert Pattinson.
