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Playing Nathan, the flying Petrelli brother in the hit series Heroes, may have brought 42-year-old Adrian Pasdar a kind of celebrity status he had never personally experienced. Yet through his marriage to 32-year-old Nathalie Maines, the outspoken singer from the Dixie Chicks, he had already learned to take
fame in his stride.
"She's an international figure in so many ways, for reasons, musically and otherwise, and she's adept at handing all that really well," he says. "I don't consider myself to be a celebrity. If anything I'm a minor celebrity or a TV star or whatever."
Pasdar considers himself a character actor. Instantly recognisable - but you can't quite recall from where - he started out in high profile movies like Top Gun, Near Dark and Carlito's Way.
Like so many actors whose talents were going to waste, Pasdar has come into his own on television (Profit, Judging Amy, a brief role on Desperate Housewives) at a time when he has settled down to family life.
"My life has taken on a different course. I've got a responsibility now not just as a husband but as a father. It's exciting to have two little boys and the older one really enjoys the show. I mean, mommy's a rock star and daddy flies. I can see therapy in his future."
Today, dressed in suit and possessing a strange formality, it's as if Pasdar is inhabiting his political animal on Heroes. Though the suit does make his small frame seem larger and he says he just likes to look good. On set he assumes the role of the elder statesman among the cast. "It's nice to be respected that way, to be a stabilising force. They're a great young cast."
He's developed a special paternal bond with Hayden Panettiere, who is being preened as the next hot young blonde in Hollywood.
"Hayden's got a good head on her shoulders and I don't think she's going to be falling into the trap that Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have," Pasdar says. "My advice to her was to always keep to your under-shorts on, don't shave your head, and no sex in a movie unless it's for an Oscar. "
Pasdar says his casting was painless. "They had their backs up against the wall and were ready to start shooting and I was able to land the job and start right away. Two days after shooting I had to do the EPK [Electronic Press Kit] and they asked me to define Petrelli. I made up a bunch of shit; I had no idea what I was talking about. Even now I only have a slightly more informed idea, because they provide us with so little information."
In order to change his appearance from his previous role he lost 11kg, which is why he is less recognisable. "It's really hard because I like to eat. I started to run marathons and got into road biking in Los Angeles. It was a lot of fun and I managed to get into the shape of my life. The downside now is I can't gain any weight, because they spent so much money on all these suits," he adds with a sigh.
Heroes might be about being superhuman, but at its core, he says, it's about humanity.
"If you strip away the fantastic elements, you're left with a dynamic story about family, about love and about how far we're willing to go to protect the people we love. I mean, the things we do are somewhat self-serving, but at the end, in the last episode [of the first series], when I go up to save my brother and my daughter - not that I'm averse to saving New York - but it's a personal concern that motivates the character.
"At first Petrelli is a selfish individual but it's a selfless act at the end, which is noble in some ways. It's fun to be part of something that provides people with an element of hope."
His personal heroes he says are his family: his mother was a German immigrant while his Iranian-born father was a surgeon. Then there's his wife, whose comments against George W. Bush caused such an international furore that the couple had to endure the world media and FBI agents on their front lawn.
"For a little 5ft 3 blonde-haired, blue-eyed barefoot girl from Texas to have inspired so much emotion in so many people," he says admiringly, "she's just a little girl who spoke her mind and got into trouble and I'm proud of her that she managed to stick to her guns. And now we're all ashamed of the President. What she said was prophetic."
Who: Actor Adrian Pasdar, who is Nathan Petrelli on Heroes and the husband of Nathalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks.
Key roles: Top Gun (1986), Near Dark (1987), Just Like a Woman (1992), Carlito's Way (1993), Profit (TV, 1996-1997), i(TV 2000-2002), Judging Amy (TV, 2003-2005).
Latest: Heroes, second series starts Monday October 22, 8.30pm.
