RYAN KWANTEN

I don't necessarily find superheroes in general, for me, that appealing. I'd much prefer to play, if I was to be cast in a superhero film, I'd prefer to play the villain because there's a reason, there's a motive behind their madness.

Sleep has never been a priority in my life.

My mum is about five foot with her hair done. Without it she's about four foot 10.

I'm definitely an elbow-room guy.

I'm not a big fan of the gym, I do lots of outdoor aerobics - yoga, swimming, running - but I kinda hate talking about it. We have a term in Australia, it makes you sound like a wanker.

I'm not the kind of guy that inspires madness in people.

One of my favorite actors is Paul Newman. He could tell so much with a single look, whereas some actors would need an entire five page monologue to give off the feeling of what he could say with just a single look.

I've been acting for a long time now, but as narcissistic as this sounds - and I don't mean it to sound - every time I see my name up there, there is real sense of pride.

I moved to L.A., and people said that I would never find work, that I would never find good friends, and I feel like I was fortunate enough to find the work, but it wouldn't mean anything unless I had a group of people who could appreciate it.

That's something lacking in a lot of modern-day families - just talking. It's almost a lost art form.

I'm glad acting sunk its teeth into me, because now I can't imagine doing anything else.

I'm very rarely in the gym. My workouts are predominantly outside, in nature.

In order to be able to give a girlfriend the amount of time she deserves, you would need time, and I just can't give her that. So, rather than being selfish or stupid enough to go into a relationship, it's just been easier to be single.

I make about two movies a year outside the 'True Blood' schedule. I work on a great show six months a year, then outside that I get to satisfy whatever creative urges I have. It's a great position, especially for a single guy like me.

I don't know if my sense of humor goes over Americans' heads.

I'm very much a masochist at heart.

I'm not one of those actors who gets physically fit for a role and then loses it all again.

The fact that 'True Blood' affects people in this way is incredible to me - the fact we have to go to such great lengths to hide storylines just proves the cache our show has.

I'm not really comfortable with who I am to be honest. I feel more free to step into the shoes of somebody else. There's always an element of me in there but, you know, if you give me a script and some clothes I can do anything. But, as Ryan, I'm a bit of a recluse.

Whether I fall on my feet or fall on my arse, I dunno. You've got to take those risks.

I'm fortunate enough with the surfing to be very much at home at the water - my pulse and heart rate are slower in the water than they are on land.

Fortunately, now I've got myself in a position where things are about story and not money. In my earlier career, it was more about getting my foot in the door and to get enough money to live, to be perfectly honest.

Even on a $100 million film, people will complain that they haven't got enough money and enough time, so that's always going to be an element in filmmaking.

I've always been relatively reserved with my social encounters.

I used to get a sort of sociophobia, and I still get it sometimes these days when I'm in a confined space with too many people. It's not like I freak out or anything, it's just that I'm far more comfortable in my own company sometimes than being surrounded by one thousand strangers.