Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund received the perfect 23rd birthday gift from director Walter Salles in 2007 - the role of a lifetime.

The actor reveals he fought hard to land the part of literary anti-hero Dean Moriarty in Salles' adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On The Road - and he learned he had won the role on his birthday.

Hedlund tells Wenn, "I fought for the role in any way I could. I read the book in high school and back then is when I began my search for the possibility. I looked online to see if there was an adaptation of the film and who was directing.

"First, it said Francis Ford Coppola, and I said, 'S**t, I'll never get a chance at this!' That was in high school in Arizona.

"I read the first draft of the script over Thanksgiving in 2006 in L.A. and met with Walter in March 2007 and tested for the roles of Dean and Sal (Paradise). I went to New York that July and tested for just Dean.

"Finally on my birthday in September Walter called me and told me I got the part. At that point it was the most unbelievable thing to happen."