Kiwi gets role with Paquin

Grant Bowler is best known to Kiwi fans for his role as Wolf from Outrageous Fortune. Photo / Supplied

Anna Paquin will soon be joined by another Kiwi on cult vampire show True Blood.

Grant Bowler, best known to Kiwi fans for his role as West family patriarch Wolf on Outrageous Fortune, will play Coot, the werewolf ringleader of a biker gang in the show's third season, which started production this week.

Bowler was born in Auckland in 1968 but moved to Australia at a young age.

Bowler's star has been rising in the last few years, with appearances in hit US shows Lost and Ugly Betty.

The True Blood role is another coup for the 41-year-old father of two, who is married to Australian actress Roxanne Wilson.

The Allan Ball-produced sexy HBO show has made Oscar-winner Paquin a huge star in the US. She plays Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton, played by her real-life fiance Stephen Moyer.