Ed Sheeran made his big-screen acting debut in the 2019 film Yesterday – but he’s admitted the role almost never came to be.

The chart-topping singer played himself in Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle’s musical comedy, which centred around a character who woke up unexpectedly in a world where The Beatles’ music never existed.

However, speaking to BBC Radio 1’s Kids Ask Difficult Questions, Ed disclosed that the part wasn’t actually written for him.

In fact, both Harry Styles and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin had turned it down before Ed was approached.

He recalled: “They asked Chris Martin, he said no, they asked Harry Styles, he said no, and I was third choice.”

Film director Danny Boyle previously dismissed the suggestion that Harry was approached for the role, but conceded that the part was originally created with Chris in mind.

“Although Harry Styles was very good in the Chris Nolan film [Dunkirk],” Danny told ABC Radio. “So maybe we would had gone to Harry Styles, if Ed Sheeran had said no.”

Ed actually ended up sharing the screen with his wife, Cherry Seaborn, in Yesterday, when she made a small cameo appearance as a flight attendant in one of his scenes.

As well as Yesterday, Ed briefly played himself in the third Bridget Jones film, and made a seriously divisive appearance in Game Of Thrones back in 2017, acting alongside Maisie Williams.

Ed has also made cameos in The Simpsons, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and the most recent Star Wars film The Rise Of Skywalker, in which he was disguised in a Stormtrooper outfit.