alfred thomas "freddie" highmore (born 14 february 1992) is an english actor and director. he is known for his film roles in "women talking dirty" (1999), "finding neverland" (2004), "charlie and the chocolate factory" (2005), and "the spiderwick chronicles" (2008). he has appeared as a television actor in 2 tv series: as norman bates in the a&amp;e drama series "bates motel" (2013–2017), and as autistic resident surgeon dr. shaun murphy in "the good doctor" (2017–2020) on abc tv.