Chris Pine still sees himself as the kid who was bullied, despite achieving huge Hollywood success.

The 35-year-old actor has worked hard to make a name for himself in the movie business and thanks to his prestigious role as Captain Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, he's become a household name. His success doesn't mean he's lost touch with his former self though, as Chris often struggles to come to terms with his high levels of fame.

"I'm still basically 15," he told Men's Fitness magazine. "I don't think of myself as the guy who's in the Armani ads (promoting its fragrance Armani Code). I'm not the captain of the football team I'm the kid who was made fun of. That insecurity still runs incredibly deep.

"I realized after Star Trek that I'd achieved a lot, I was financially independent; but something about my way of going about life wasn't satisfying me. So I made a decision that my main objective is to be happier, as opposed to more successful. That's what I want."

Part of the reason Chris felt so insecure as a youngster is because he suffered acute acne during puberty, which he recalled as "emotionally devastating and debilitating". It was this change in appearance that saw him transform from a happy-go-lucky kid to ashamed to show his face, and he will always look back at that period as a defining part of who he is today.

But in time the skin troubles went away, and soon he had people telling him how handsome he was and that he should be an actor.

"After feeling so insecure about that stuff, I felt validated," he smiled. "I didn't bring anything beyond Star Trek beyond a desire to... I really don't know. Yeah, of course I processed that it was a big f**king deal, but if it had been a Top Gun remake, that would have weighed heavier on my shoulders. I wasn't a Star Trek kid. It was only meaningful to me in that I knew it was meaningful to the world."

Fans can see him back in the shoes of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Beyond, out on 22 July (16).