Biografia

He has quickly gained a reputation as one of the nicest actors around, as he always takes time to socialize with fans and hangs out with crew members as much as co-stars on film sets.

He has a legal degree from Glasgow University, but gave up on that career after being fired from a law firm just one week before he was qualified to practice law.

Cried while talking about the Phantom's loneliness to O Fantasma da Ópera (2004) director Joel Schumacher.

On the first day of shooting his film debut in Sua Majestade, Mrs. Brown (1997), he had to run naked into a freezing sea and, as a result, developed hypothermia. Later during the filming, he saved a young boy from drowning in the river Tay and received a Certificate Of Bravery from The Royal Humane Society.

Had the rock-and-roll voice that Andrew Lloyd Webber always wanted to hear as the Phantom.

On his new acting career: "[During] some of the most miserable periods of my life, people thought I was very happy. And now that I'm actually happier, I don't have to show it. I'm more comfortable with myself."

In Scotland I'm just like a lot of other guys, but in America I'm seen as a very strong, masculine guy.

You've got to move on and it's a shame because there's a part of you that thinks, 'I was so attached to that movie and its success and what it meant to me.' There's a part of you that wants to pull that off again. I heard some backroom chatter about another 300 (2006) movie. I don't know if it would be a sequel or a prequel but I haven't read anything. I can't see it myself, the idea in general. I'm not sure which way they would go with that. When Russell Crowe did Gladiador (2000), he didn't come back and do another one. Like mine, his character died.

On solitude: I love to spend a lot of time on my own. I can seriously go into my own head and often love to let myself travel where I don't know where I'm going. I always felt that that was his kind of form of escape, in a way.

On acting: Just make them feel something, because I think so many of us, including myself, spend too much time not feeling enough, you know?