The actor due to play a young Han Solo in an upcoming Star Wars spin-off has been announced – and it’s Jewish star Alden Ehrenreich.

Mr Ehrenreich, 26, will play the character made famous by Harrison Ford in 1977 in a prequel about the early life of Han Solo, one of the series’ most famous characters.

Before landing the role of the captain of the Millennium Falcon, Mr Ehrenreich appeared in the Coen Brothers’ “Hail Caesar” and Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”

His big break came 12 years ago when Steven Spielberg saw a film he made for a friend’s batmitzvah. According to the Daily Beast, “when Ehrenreich was just 14, he made a home movie for his friend’s batmitzvah, which was played during the ceremony. Steven Spielberg just so happened to be in the crowd, as his daughter, Sasha, was friends with the guest of honour.”

Mr Ehrenreich is disparaging about the film, saying: “There wasn’t a script: We would go and just film whatever made us laugh. I’m this 14-year-old, skinny little kid with long hair. I break into her house, try on her clothes and make up a song. All of this is just us literally taking a camera and going like, ‘Okay, ha ha, do this.’ We showed it to our parents—‘We’re gonna play this at her batmitzvah!’—and they were like, ‘You look like an idiot in this. I don’t think you should really do that.’ We didn’t care.”

But Mr Spielberg was impressed with Mr Ehrenreich’s performance and gave him a meeting at his Dreamworks studio, before introducing him to Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him in his first feature film, 2009’s “Tetro”.

The film, which remains untitled, is scheduled to be released in May 2018.