True Blood's Joe Manganiello: I was too fit to find work

True Blood's Joe Manganiello: I was too fit to find work

The ripped actor, who plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux in the hit vampire series, said he struggled to get a job after arriving in Los Angeles in 2000.

Joe, 35, said: "I was constantly being told, ‘you’re too healthy’, so there were four years where I essentially didn’t work as an actor.

"For a while I tried becoming this chain-smoking artiste dude who watched what he ate.

"But I hated it. I was happier going back to my roots, training like men do in my hometown of Pittsburgh.”

The American added of his motivation to keep fit: “My dad wanted me to be an athlete. And I think all sons want to prove something to their dad.

"So now, aged 35, I want to see how far I can get or what I can achieve physically.

“I love lying down in bed at night and feeling like I’ve earned my sleep. I’m at my best when I’m wearing myself out in that way.”

Joe is starring in two Hollywood blockbusters this summer Magic Mike and What to Expect When You're Expecting.

He said of filming new stripper comedy Magic Mike, in which he plays Big Dick Richie: "We were rolling around on the ground laughing, trying to crack each other up, man-handling groups of 200 female extras every day.

"There are guys who are going to divorce their wives after they see that they did as extras in this movie.”

Read the full Joe Manganiello interview in the Men's Health July issue â€" on sale Monday 4 June.