Interview: Even in Smaller Roles, "Ringer"'s Ioan Gruffudd Makes a Big Impression

How did The CW get a movie star like Ioan Gruffudd to do one of their TV shows, much less in a supporting role?

It helps when the show is as terrific as the show in question, Ringer (my pick for the single best new show of the reason, at least based on the pilot), and when it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar in her much-anticipated return to the small screen.

It probably also helps that Gruffudd made his first big splash on television, in Hornblower, a series of eight movies made for British TV between 1998 and 2003. That role helped him land what's probably his most high-profile role to date, Mister Fantastic in the two Fantastic Four movies.

And this summer, in a brief but very memorable turn as a "wet work" expert in Horrible Bosses, Gruffudd proved once and for all that he isn't above taking a smaller role when it's right and when he thinks it'll make a big impression.

Gruffudd was born in southern Wales, and as chance would have it, when he moved to London to make his fortune as an actor, he happened to share a flat for years with two other Welsh actors who have also done pretty well for themselves: Matthew Rhys (Kevin on Brothers & Sisters) and Michael Sheen (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, the  Underworld movies).

I asked him about all of this and plenty else in my recent interview with him, during which he couldn't have been more charming. Gruffudd is also pretty easy on the eyes, but I can't personally vouch for that, since, alas, we conducted our conversation over the phone.

AfterElton: When you look at Sarah Michelle's role on Ringer, which is so rich and wonderful — she's playing twins, one of whom has to pretend to be the other one — are you jealous of that, or do you think, "Wow, I really dodged a bullet, not having to take all that on."
Ioan Gruffudd: I've had the privilege and the pleasure of playing the lead in so many projects, but when I read this, I did say, "These are the parts I want to play! Sarah Michelle's parts."

But the burden that's on Sarah, watching her, it's pretty extraordinary. I'm in those scenes with her, and then I get to go home, and then she has to be Siobhan in Paris. It's pretty impressive how she's dealing with it all, and helping to produce the show creatively, and be a mother. I have a daughter as well who's the same age as Sarah's daughter.

So I'm sort of in awe of her, and very, very impressed. And I can see why she's had such great success over the years, because of her tenacity.

AE: Have you ever played twins?
IG: No, I don't think so. Not even back in my early days back in Wales.

AE: I've only seen the pilot, but Andrew doesn't know his wife has been replaced by her twin. Does he suspect?
IG: It's interesting that you thought that might be an element. That's not way I played it. At some point, that obviously has to happen. But if we as the audience can get over that conceit, that you wouldn't know that your wife is someone completely different, then we've got an incredible show on our hands. You as the audience have been let in from the beginning on this incredible secret, and it's a delicious journey to see how everybody responds to that and how she gets away with it.

The cast of Ringer

AE: The thing that concerns me about this show is that while the pilot is enormously clever, with lots of twists and turns, how do you maintain that level of tension and those kinds of reveals for a full season?
IG: Yes. That was one of my first questions when I sat down with the creators and Sarah Michelle. They gave me a sort of broad outline of what would happen to [my character] personally. It was very exciting and one of the main reasons I'm doing the show. Without giving you any spoilers, every episode so far has had a heart-in-mouth moment. I don't know how the writers do it, week in and week out. Granted, we can't have three or four heart-in-mouth moments every week, but we will have a cliffhanger that will keep you tuning in the following week.

It's sort of like your favorite telenovela soap opera coupled with Damages. You know how Damages reveals something every week? We have elements of that almost every episode.

I'm just caught up watching Breaking Bad, and the heart-in-mouth moments you get in that show! I'll be thrilled if we have our version of that.

AE: That's a great answer, because those are two shows that have managed to do exactly what Ringer needs to do.
IG: To be fair to us, Breaking Bad and Damages are two unbelievable shows, but the course of a season for them is only twelve or thirteen episodes. So I guess we have to draw it out longer in that sense. But we have many different characters that we get to explore.

We're on episode six right now, and there's confusion, "Why is this happening?" And then at the end, boom, there's a delicious revelation.

I can report, so far, so good, yeah?

Next Page! How'd he come to be an assassin/male prostitute in Horrible Bosses?