I think every red-blooded male enjoys brandishing a firearm.

I was about 10 years old. I just remember the film Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee blowing my mind on the screen and I thought to myself, "That's what I want to do for a living when I'm older." Bruce Lee was so magnetic and charismatic and held the screen so well. It's just a very powerful performance in that film. That's the first memory I have - him in that movie.

You've got to be a certain type of person to be a professional fighter. I prefer to do it for pretend.

The genre of '80s action movies, I think, changed really when The Matrix came out and Keanu Reeves was able to perform kung fu. Then you had Matt Damon in the Bourne films, doing a great job. So it's different now, they can train actors to do their own fights convincingly on screen, so those guys aren't needed anymore. But I think everything goes around in circles; people still do want to see the guys that can do stuff for real, that's why The Expendables is so popular. I think it will come back again.

My first break was in a Hong Kong movie that I shot in China - I was going out there and working as a western stunt man, if you like, but at the same time in England I was working in daytime soap stuff. Eventually I put the two together.

Whenever you're looking at new ways to get in shape, first you have to decide what you want. Do you want a more muscular look, or do you want to slim down and appear more toned and ripped? I adapt my training and diet with each role I do, depending on the image I want to convey.

They don't mind getting punched in the face and, more importantly, they don't mind punching other people in the face. I'm just about the movies; I enjoy the dexterity of actors in action movies and the choreography side of things. You've just got to be a different person to be a professional fighter. I train with professional fighters so I know what it takes. It's a very difficult profession, probably harder then the acting profession.