Alfie Allen is "in shock" over his Tony nomination

He said: "I'm slightly in shock a bit [about the nomination]. [Doing Broadway] was something I was trying to block out at first because the pressure just felt so immense to me, which is silly. I was nervous during the rehearsals, but then as soon as we got into the theatre - even before rehearsing in the theatre, just being in the theatre and in that space - I just relaxed into it a bit."

The former 'Game of Thrones' star - who played Theon Greyjoy on all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series between 2011 and 2019 and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role - went on to explain that his fellow castmates were "so supportive" and that while he grew up taking part in amateur dramatics, he still gets nervous backstage.

He told PEOPLE: "In the rehearsal rooms I was all over the place, but the cast was so supportive, and they really helped me. I was onstage from when I was a child doing community theatre, doing pantomime, when I was very, very young, so the idea of being onstage, that doesn't really get on my nerves, do you know what I mean? But all the stuff before does. As soon as I get on [stage], I enjoy it."

Alfie - who is the younger brother of pop star Lily Allen, 37, - is set to star in the award-winning play about Britain's second-best ex ecutioner in the 1960s at the John Golden Theatre in New York until the show closes on June 18, while the 75th Annual Tony Awards ceremony is set to be held just days earlier on June 12.