Tom Hiddleston Reflects on Breakthrough Loki Role, Thanks Co-Stars Across His Career for ‘Sharing the Dream' of Acting at Miami Film Festival

Actor Tom Hiddleston has been racking up accolades for his varied career, including Golden Globe and Lawrence Olivier Awards and nominations from the BAFTA, SAG, Tony and Emmy Awards. And now the “Loki” star and producer adds Variety’s Virtuoso Award to that list, which he accepted Tuesday night in a presentation at the Miami Film Festival.

In his speech, Hiddleston noted that the word “virtuoso” conjures images of a dazzling soloist on a musical instrument-which is not how he thinks of himself. “For me, the joy of my life as an actor has been about being in accompaniment, about playing in concert in the orchestra,” he noted. And what we do as actors is a collective creative endeavor. And the joy of it is sharing the dream, sharing the space within the architecture of our imagination.”

He went on to add, “If I have done anything of any value, it’s because of the energy and the generosity I received from other actors and the other artists around me.” He added that in accepting the award, “I just want to pay tribute to the hundreds of brilliant artists who have helped me to do what I do.”

After accepting the award, Hiddleston sat down for a Q&A about his career and process – along with some quizzes. First, he proved he still knew the lyrics to Will Smith’s “Miami.” Then, because of some of the unique names of Florida cities (Howie in the Hills, Yeehaw Junction, Spuds) he was asked to guess which names were real – and scored a perfect 9 out of 9.

Hiddleston went on to discuss his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and several early roles – including playing the son of Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave as Winston and Clementine Churchill in the 2002 TV film “The Gathering Storm.”

“I had these big scenes with both of them, and I was so nervous because I revered them,” he admitted. “I tried to calm my nerves by saying to myself, ‘A son isn’t nervous of his mum and dad. So just walk out there and argue with them.'” He went on to talk about how generous Finney was – “and he didn’t have to be, because I was a nobody” – and gave him the advice to attend drama school, saying, “What’s three years if you’re going to do it for the next 60?” Added Hiddleston, “So I owe that to him. Because I don’t know if I would have thought of it as carefully as I did.”

He also discussed his first visit to Los Angeles in 2005, driving a rented car on the 405 freeway without GPS. “I thought, ‘This will be the day that I die,'” he said. “I was driving on the other side of the road on a six-lane freeway on a Friday night in Los Angeles. And I thought, ‘Well, I had a good run.'”

Of course, the actor went on to thrive both on screen and onstage; he appeared in “Othello” with Ewan McGregor and Chiwetel Ejiofor and “Ivanov” with Kenneth Branagh before booking the breakthrough role of Loki in 2011’s “Thor,” directed by Branagh. He spoke about the day he found out he won the role – via a phone call from Branagh and Marvel head Kevin Feige. “I was on Kentish Town Road in northwest London. It was really busy and rush hour,” he recalled. “And I just had to sit on the pavement, on the sidewalk, for a while and thought, ‘This is a moment. Take it in.'”

He went on to say he never could have imagined that role would last five films and two seasons of a series, which happens to be the most popular Marvel series on Disney Plus. “I thought I was gonna do it once and be like, ‘Wow, that was great!'” he revealed. “I did not know that 15 years later, I would still be playing the character and it’s been the greatest surprise and the greatest delight of my life.”

While it’s unknown if the recent Season Two finale of “Loki” is the end of the series, the show ended on a poignant note as the character finally took a throne – but with a cost. Holding together all the timelines of the multiverse, Loki becomes the God of Stories, but it is a solitary existence, exiled from his friends. Many have praised Hiddleston’s performance in the scenes, particularly his final expression. The actor went on to say that on the day of shooting, he was thinking of his own journey. “So when I was up there, I was thinking of all of the last 15 years – and in a way, I think that helped me,” he said. “And the crew were absolutely amazing that day because I was looking down at all of the crew – camera operators, focus pullers, set dressers, costume designers, hair and makeup artists, stunt people – they were all down there in front of me. And I felt that they were with me. and I found that very moving, their generosity and being there for me and with me. It’s an amazing thing we get to do we have an amazing job. We’re very lucky.

Jenelle Riley and Tom Hiddleston attend 41st Miami Film Festival.