A chat with Charlie Hunnam...

Charlie Hunnam may be just 28 years old, but he is an actor who would rather not work at all than accept a bad role in a film or on television.

Before he was cast as the lead in the new FX series "Sons of Anarchy" which debuts Sept. 3, he didn't find any projects that appealed to him to he took some time away from acting to write a screenplay.

But the star of such features as "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Green Street Hooligans" was finally offered a part that he knew was absolutely right for him: Jackson "Jax" Teller in "Anarchy," an action-drama that explores the life and brotherhood of a notorious outlaw motorcycle club.

"They are pretty bad," Charlie said recently. "If ever anything comes into their world and compromises the way they live their life or their freedom, then they strike out with a vengeance."

Katey Sagal plays his force-of-nature mother and Ron Perlman is his stepfather and president of the club.

"He's trying to distance himself a little bit from the violent nature of this club," Charlie said of Jax.

When we spoke, I wondered about the tatoos that were on the actor's arm. I asked him if they were real.

"No," he said before explaining that he participated in the selection of his character's body art: "You can either pay attention and make a specific choice about tatoos or you can show up and have the make-up artist put some tatoos on you. And I thought long and hard about it. I didn't want to go overboard but I wanted something very specific."
Real tatoos that are visible can be problematic: "I love tatoos but it's just such a pain to have them covered."

The English actor, now based in Los Angeles, was open to doing a series even though he had been getting steady work in such films as "Cold Mountain," "Children of Men," and "Abandon."

In fact, two of his most memorable roles were on TV: the original British version of "Queer as Folk" and the FOX comedy "Undeclared" which was cancelled after one season but remains a cult favorite.

I wondered if playing a tough guy was much oif a stretch for Charlie.

"I was a rough little kid growing up," he said. "I definitely had my share of fights but all that's behind me now. I'm an actor. I'm not a bad-ass anymore."

Here is a scene from "Queer As Folk: filmed nearly 10 years ago: