Brendan Fraser confesses to still being underconfident despite Oscar win

Brendan Fraser says his 2023 Oscar for The Whale hasn’t helped much with his self-doubt.

Fraser, 56, made the admission in a recent interview with the Associated Press, saying even at this stage of his career, confidence remains a struggle.

His latest film, Rental Family, casts him as an American actor taking odd jobs in Tokyo, a role he jokes served as a reality check. “Don’t get too comfortable. It can happen to me.”

“I struggle with confidence,” he confessed. “I always have the feeling of not being good enough. No critic or pithy internet comment can be more biting to me than myself in my private thoughts.”

Fraser reflected on trying to overcome that mindset, recalling advice he once got from Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels during one of his hosting stints.

“He told me, ‘You know, it’s all about confidence.’ I don’t know if that psyched me up or not.”

He added, “Forget everything you know and just own it. Can you do that is the question—the eternal one.”

Fraser said the period after the Oscars left him searching for a project that felt right, which unexpectedly led him to Rental Family, directed by Hikari.

“It was a moment of 'I guess things are going to be a little different going forward,'” he said.

Taking a job that required him to immerse himself in Japanese culture also provided a needed reset. “I wanted to remove myself from whatever this place is, just for a while,” he explained.

Fraser will next play Dwight D. Eisenhower in the war drama Pressure and is set to return to The Mummy franchise.