Actor Andrew Garfield is glad he was well into his twenties before finding fame, because stardom at a young age would have sent him off the rails "like Justin Bieber" and he would have ended up in prison.

The Amazing Spider-Man star began his screen career at the age of 22 and he became a globally-recognised face in 2010 at the age of 27 with his Golden Globe-nominated role in The Social Network.

The Brit admits he found stardom strange at first, and he is thankful his career only took off once he was mature enough to handle life in the spotlight.

Garfield tells Time Out London, "If I had had these opportunities when I was younger, I would have been Justin Bieber. If you are a 16-year-old kid and you can do whatever the f**k you want, you're making trillions of dollars and you have a leopard-print Ferrari, it's not healthy. If I was going through what I'm going through now when I was 16, I might have ended up in jail."