Prison Break

Jailhouse hunk

What's changed in season three?

Michael's back behind bars and he can't just rely on his brains this time. We are trying to paint a picture of Sona, which is based on this real life prison in Brazil where the inmates took over. It's a very ‘Lord of the Flies' scenario and many times more dangerous than Fox River.

So does that mean no more tattoos?

I'm wearing long sleeves because we have to pretend it's still there. But it's a relief not to have to have it applied so often. Last year when we were on the run I chose to wear a tan suit because I thought it would look iconic, like Steve McQueen, but it was so hot.

How do you lighten the mood when you are working in 104 degrees heat or a disused prison?

The people I have the most antagonistic relationships with on screen are the ones I get on best with. Wade Williams, who plays Bellick, is an old theatre ham, so we have a good time. Dominic Purcell, who plays Lincoln, always seems so serious but he's a real crack-up. And Peter Stormare, who was Abruzzi, was a great one for smearing peanut butter under tables, so you'd be in the middle of a scene and suddenly find it.

How do you unwind?

It's become a routine for me to cap off a season and relaunch my life that I drive back across America to my home in LA. It's a great way to get my head in the right space to catch up on the life I've neglected for the last 10 months.

Do you regret not being able to take up movie offers?

I'm only 35 and at the beginning of what I hope is going to be a long career. In the course of 48 episodes I've developed some acting muscles I didn't have before. I've done a car accident, bedroom scenes, someone dying in my arms, I've been shot and done fight scenes. Those are more extreme moments than you would ever get in a feature film.

How much of a struggle was it to get to this stage of your career?

It's a feast or famine scenario, sometimes you're rolling in it and sometimes you're scanning your CD collection to see what you can hawk to pay the rent that month. It's funny, I was in 'Human Stain' with Anthony Hopkins and I sank five months of my life into that movie and I was tremendously proud of it. It was supposed to do so much for me as an actor, but critically it was not well received and commercially it didn't do any business at all. So I went through a really long spell of not working, it was like I stepped off the pavement and suddenly I was in the desert.

It must have been tough to keep going.

My father sent me an email saying the LAPD had a reservist programme and that was something I should look into and I could learn to drive a cop car and carry a gun and be paid for my time.

You studied at Princeton. Deciding to become an actor is a bit of a departure from such an academic background.

I went back to my college reunion after my first gig ever, which was a guest star in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and I had $500 in my bank account. My classmates were in medical school or in law school, but no one wanted to talk medicine or law, they all wanted to talk about how great Sarah Michelle Gellar was.

So how is success, now it's finally arrived?

People have referred to me as an overnight success but I'm an overnight success that has been 10 years in the making. And the sex symbol stuff is just bizarre. I'm still not used to strangers coming up and asking me for a hug.

Do you have many fans in jail?

We do have an inmate fan base, prisoners who rearrange their work schedules so they can be back in their cells to watch the show and it's nice to think of bringing a little bit of enjoyment into what I'm sure is a horrendous situation. And apparently you can trade a signed picture of us for a packet of smokes.

Has anyone ever asked you for help to break out of prison?

I have never received that kind of request and they would be up a creek without a paddle because I'm not nearly the mathematical and scientific genius that Michael is. There's no way I could potentially pull this off in real life, so I'm not really the person they should be writing to.