Paul Mescal is one of the rising stars among the current generation of movie actors. However, his career trajectory differs from that of his same-age contemporaries like Asa Butterfield, Lucas Hedges, and Tom Holland. After gaining theatre experience in Dublin and London, Mescal got his big breakthrough in “Normal People,” a coming-of-age romance drama series based on Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel of the same name. It became a global sensation during the Covid pandemic. The Hulu series put both him and his co-star, Daisy Edgar-Jones, in the limelight, who has recently starred in “Twisters,” one of the year’s defining summer blockbusters. Like her, Mescal is also set to venture into big-budget projects like Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator 2,” where Mescal is expected to share screen space with Pedro Pascal & Denzel Washington.

Before such large-scale projects, Mescal had often chosen indie films with a lot of heart. After a small...