Eddie Izzard has come a long way since his stand-up days in London clubs. He tells Ben Falk about his new life - and new accent - in the States

IF someone asked you five years ago what Eddie Izzard would be doing in 2007, you'd be forgiven if playing the pivotal role of a Nazi turncoat in the new Tom Cruise blockbuster didn't spring to mind. After all, here was the guy who donned dresses to talk nonsense - hilarious, award-winning nonsense - on stage, not some proper thespian.

"I felt like I'd crossed the line," says Eddie, warm and funny, if a little tired after his transcontinental journey to today's swish London member's club It's an epic transformation, fuelled by his leading role in The Riches, a new US television series, launching here on the new digital channel Virgin One on October 1.

The comedian plays Wayne, a travelling con man, who along with wife Minnie Driver takes over the house - and life - of a dead, middle-class couple in Louisiana. Bowing to critical praise in America, Eddie recently found himself on the Emmy Award shortlist, though he just missed out on a nomination.

"It's a bloody great role to get," he says. "I helped develop it and I was in the writers' room initially, pitching ideas in."

Although he has consistently played supporting roles in films like Ocean's Thirteen, as well winning a Tony Award for his stage work in A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg, bagging the part of Wayne was something of a promotion for Eddie, who explains that he "had held back the comedy specifically so I could have a blank sheet, just like Hugh Laurie".

He also gets to grapple with a Yank accent, a quirk that takes a little getting used to from someone who seems so quintessentially British.

"It's something I had to work at," he admits, before launching into a fast-paced dissection of the differing ways to pronounce R's and T's. "People at the end were saying, you're doing such a good Southern accent' and I said I'm not doing a Southern accent!' When I do it, I tend to stay American on the set in between takes and when I go home, I also talk like American, going into shops. I can't talk to a British person with an American accent, though," he laughs.

Luckily, where he lives now, that's not such a problem.

Despite growing up in various locations including Northern Ireland and the Welsh town of Skewen, home is currently Los Angeles, where he is most happy relaxing and picking up takeaway from his local Thai restaurant.

"It's weird," he ponders of the Asian eatery. "I can't work out what the security guard's doing on the door? I'm just coming into get some Thai food. Why do they pay to have someone on the door? I can't work it out."

For those missing Eddie's trademark digressions, the good news is that despite a flourishing screen career, he hasn't retired from stand-up. In fact, he will be doing more foreignlanguage shows across the world and regularly plays impromptu gigs at tiny Hollywood venues.

"I've always wanted to play small rooms and big rooms, maybe one night after the other," he reveals. "After I first played Wembley, which has 10,000 seats, I played a club in London which is a 200-seater and a reviewer said I didn't play them any differently, which is perfect. And Prince does that too..."

Versatility isn't the only thing he shares with the Artist Formerly Known As Squiggle, a man well-known for androgyny. Though Eddie has become increasingly less defined by the early revelation that he is a transvestite, it's a topic that still remains outside the cognisance of "mainstream" Hollywood. In a world where few actors proclaim their homosexuality, isn't cross-dressing a similar taboo for brand-conscious, Middle America-wooing film execs?

"I'm not people's first choice for leading man roles," he says.

"I've caused myself a problem by being honest about being a transvestite. But that's something I'm going to play with and some people might think it gives you more credibility as a truthful person, or maybe having a certain amount of depth.

"I'm interested in talking about it but in America at the moment, I thought let's get the series going, get it bedded in and get a core audience and then I can let it out. At the moment, I'm trying to not overtly talk about it because it's already out there and I've talked about it a lot," he says.

"As soon as my stand-up started taking off, I thought I'm going to be up-front about this and I must admit at that time, I'd just started to do the dramatic roles and I don't suppose I'd quite factored that could be a negative on playing a lead role. But then I'd much prefer to be honest."

Thankfully, it appears that right now showbusiness agrees with him. The Riches will be returning for a second series and the actor can be seen playing an eccentric ringmaster in the upcoming Beatles-inspired musical Across The Universe.

It's a long way from his start as a street performer in London's Covent Garden - he revisited his old stomping ground during a jog before the interview - and Eddie knows it.

"I finally fell on my feet really," he says.

"It's great.

"One of my problems with myself is to hack my way through, I really concentrate on what's the best way of getting to the next level?' If you're constantly trying to push things ahead, you sometimes don't just sit there and enjoy the moment enough."

He smiles, adding: "That's something I've got to get better at."

■ The Riches starts on new digital channel Virgin One on Monday at 10pm