MARK ADDY: 'I'm not excited by Hollywood stars. We're all doing the same gig in the end'

The film was an unexpected box office hit and Addy, who played

overweight ex-steelworker Dave, became an unlikely sex symbol.

The comedy, which told the story of six unemployed men who decide to become a group of male strippers, also provided the springboard to Addy's film career.

In the 13 years since his auspicious film debut, he has starred alongside some of Hollywood's hottest properties including the late Heath Ledger, Guy Pearce and latterly Russell Crowe, playing Friar Tuck opposite Crowe's Robin Hood in Ridley Scott's blockbuster due for release next month.

Before that, he stars in Gurinder Chadha's new film It's A Wonderful Afterlife. Billed as a romantic comedy with a twist, it tells the story of an Indian mother who takes the ultimate revenge on families who reject her efforts to marry off her daughter, with Addy playing a detective trying to solve a spate of bizarre murders.

"When I first read the script it was just mad – it was like nothing I'd read before," he says. "Chadha loves the old Ealing comedies. She has an office near the studios and she's created this film which is its own genre that takes its inspiration from those great old comedies."

With several other films either in post-production, or in the pipeline, the York-born actor is much in demand right now.

"I would like to be able to say it's all part of a grand masterplan, but basically I've just gone from one film to the next," he says. And although he has the luxury these days of being able to pick and choose his roles, he admits that wasn't always the case.

"You can only choose from what you're offered and sometimes the choice is made for you. You end up doing some stuff you're less proud of but you do it because you think you can bring something to the film. But I

tend to keep on working whenever I can, I'm a bit of a workaholic," he says.

"When you're starting out it's terrifying because you have these periods of unemployment in between jobs. But now I actually look forward to these breaks because it gives you the chance to live your life a bit and it brings you back to reality."

Addy first became interested in acting while he was a pupil at the Joseph Rowntree comprehensive school, in York.

"I had a drama teacher and he allowed our imaginations to go to work. When I was a teenager we had to do some work experience and I managed to get three weeks at York Theatre Royal. I was in the workshop backstage and I loved it, I loved the people and I managed to get

myself a carpentry job there."

After a year of A-levels, he quit school to concentrate on his backstage job. "I helped build the stage sets and scenery and I got to watch the actors night after night. I was fascinated by the way audiences reacted differently and I talked to the actors whenever I could to find out how they'd got started."

He went to Rada before returning to York Theatre Royal which gave him his first paid acting role as the servant David, in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals. From here he became a veteran of Hull

Truck, where his talent was nurtured by John Godber, before later joining the Royal National Theatre.

It was actually Godber who pushed Addy's name forward for The Full Monty. "I'd never made a film before, I'd done a lot of theatre work and a bit of telly, so this was a brilliant opportunity. But we didn't have a clue what to expect, it just happened to be the right script at the right time. It came just after the General Election and there was an air of optimism at that time and the film fed into this, people wanted something a bit different," he says.

"To be honest, when we were making it we had no idea it was going to be so popular. It has a very northern sense of humour and we weren't sure

they would understand it down south, so we didn't think it would play to audiences outside Yorkshire, never mind Peru and everywhere else in the world."

The film went on to become a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic and Addy found himself in the middle of the PR circus in the US.

"I'd never been to America before we took the film to the Sundance Festival and afterwards I was asked to do some publicity for the launch because nobody else was available," he says, laughing. "It started off playing at a couple of cinemas in New York and LA and then it just snowballed." And as the man on the ground Addy found himself the toast

of Tinseltown.

Not that he was particularly impressed by the glitz and glamour of LA. "It's a strange place where nothing quite seems real, I mean it's basically a desert and I never felt at home there."

Instead, the 46 year-old lives in York with his wife and children. And he prefers it that way. "Whenever I'm away filming, I can't wait to come back to York. I was born there and it's home to me. I've travelled all over the world and I've not found anywhere that beats it." Addy reckons his Yorkshire roots help keep him "grounded" and while he enjoys his work he's about as far removed from the stereotypical acting luvvie as you can get.

"The only time I got over- excited was when I went to a premiere and was sat behind Elvis Costello and my wife had to tell me to calm down," he says.

Certainly, when it comes to Hollywood stars he's not one to get

starstruck. "We're all doing the same gig at the end of the day and

they know that, too."

And despite the fact that he's top of the bill in some of his films, he doesn't regard himself as a star. "I'm just an actor and it might sound a bit odd but I actually prefer playing supporting roles, because that way I can get on with my job without any fuss."

n It's A Wonderful Afterlife is in cinemas now.