ACTOR ADAM PEARSON I Don't Think 'Why Me?" I Think 'Why Not Me

THE A DIFFERENT MAN STAR, WHO LIVES WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, IS CHALLENGING HOLLYWOOD TO REFRAME DISABILITY

-  EILEEN FINAN

When Adam Pearson goes someplace new, he knows the obvious can't be ignored. He anticipates the stares and curiosity-and, at times, the cruelty when people first see his face, enlarged and disfigured by tumors caused by neurofibromatosis. And he confronts it all boldly. "You go in and go for it," the 39-year-old actor says. "Like, 'Hi, my name's Adam. I'm new here. We're going to be friends."" That confident charm inspired director Aaron Schimberg to write A Different Man, a dark comedy with Pearson and Sebastian Stan, who praises his costar's "charisma and bravery." Pearson, who previously appeared in the 2014 thriller Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson and in Schimberg's 2019 film Chained for Life, plays Oswald, a rakish hero whose facial disfigurement turns out to be a mere footnote to his magnetism. "I wrote the part of Oswald to show off Adam's range as an actor and as a sort of tribute to his personality," says Schimberg. "I have a cleft palate, and that's shaped my perception of myself. But Adam, whose disability is even more visible, doesn't let that define him. I was in awe of that."In Pearson's hometown of Croydon, just south of London, his is a familiar face, known for his numerous appearances in British documentaries and on reality shows-an