Stephen Moyer
Stephen Moyer
Stephen Moyer is an English film and television actor and director who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series True Blood. Moyer's first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV adaptation of the play Conjugal Rites, written by actor/playwright Roger Hall. This was followed by the television film Lord of Misrule, filmed in Fowey, Cornwall, which also featured Richard Wilson, Emily Mortimer and Prunella Scales. In 1997, Moyer made his big-screen debut...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth11 October 1969
CityBrentwood, England
One of the things that I've been trying to do with my characters, one of the things that does lead to me turning things down, is I don't really want to repeat myself.
I used to teach kids when I was younger. When I was about 14 or 15 I started teaching children drama and something that I used to say to them was, 'Don't be afraid.' People would be afraid of forgetting their lines or something.
Film and theater are about misdirection and making the audience see something. I find it interesting. One of the things we do in 'True Blood' is shoot all of our stunts in camera. Instead of doing some kind of visual effect, we try to make it happen.
A film that I love is 'Raising Arizona' and that's funny but it's quite indie and weird and odd and quirky. I'd love to do something like that. Who knows?
I'm not a very violent dude, and if something can be settled without any physicality, I'm always in favor of that. But if somebody comes near my kids, the atavistic crazy lion comes out.
It's so funny when you're actually directing because things start popping that you don't expect to pop, and something that you think is going to pop, maybe doesn't quite have the impetus that you thought it might.
I love - oh God, I shouldn't say this - I'm really good at bringing orchids back from the dead.
Personally, I'm a big reader, and I've never wanted any of my favorite novels to be made into movies.
You know, men would much rather run away than talk about stuff, and my default setting has always been, 'If you have an argument, walk out the door.'
HBO Go is a fantastic way to spend your time.
The position of power and having to make decisions that you don't necessarily want to make is always good conflict and good drama.
There is a difference between looking all right in a shirt and taking the shirt off. The older that us dudes get, the more the paunch has to be worked on. It's hard.
Conflict is drama, and how people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are.
I didn't want to do film or commercials or television. That was cheap. That was selling out. I was the classic liberal, left-wing, 'Theater is going to change the world' kind of person. You know, very, very boring.