CLIVE Owen first become known in Chancer, a hit TV series about a yuppie sports car dealer. "It laid the whole foundation for my career," he says. This year he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting actor for his role in Closer, and was nominated for a BAFTA and Oscar for the same category. He will soon begin filming Derailed with Jennifer Aniston. The next James Bond? Many people are tipping him but, he says, he hasn't been approached - yet.

FRAMEWORK

The 40-year-old, 6ft 2ins, Coventry-born actor with jutting cheekbones and olive-green eyes, doesn't mind getting his kit off in a movie but, he admits, it's always difficult. "Most blokes would say playing intimate scenes with pretty actresses makes me a lucky guy, but imagine if next time you were making love to someone you don't even know that well, you had to let 40 people watch. How scary is that?" He reckons the sexiest part of the body are the eyes. "Corny, but that's what I believe. They are what connect us as human beings."

EXERCISE

"I don't overdo it, because I feel that, right now, I don't have to, but whenever a role demands extra fitness, then I do some exercises," he says. "I've found the theatre is energetic enough. It's like going to the gym and having a vigorous workout every night. Movies, too, can be exhausting especially if, as in King Arthur, you have to do a lot of horse-riding. Until then I wasn't a very good horse-rider, but I didn't tell the directors that when I was cast."

Clive doesn't talk too much about the time he and Jude Law went pole dancing. They were so impressed by their Closer co-star Natalie Portman's pole dancing in the film, they thought they'd try it. "We both had lessons and we found it's very good for the upper thigh and the deltoid." Another way Clive keeps fit is in the garden. "It's not big but there's always plenty to do. Double-digging can certainly take it out of you."

DIET

You won't find Clive on any strict diet because he has no problems staying slim. His fast-growing movie career here and in the States burns up plenty of calories. Which, he says, is just as well because his wife is a good cook. And since he spent time filming King Arthur in Ireland, he's been known to enjoy a glass or two of Guinness.

LOVE LIFE

He met his wife, actress Sarah Jane Fenton, 15 years ago, before Chancer, when he was playing Romeo to her Juliet at London's Young Vic theatre. "Up until then I was one of those guys who used to say, 'I'm never getting married' - and then I met Sarah." They have two young daughters, Hannah and Eve.