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Stage, screen, the 18th green: the multi-talented Damian Lewis is everywhere right now -- and that's a darn good thing.

GQ, December 2005

Ever since Damian Lewis appeared as Major Richard D. Winters in Band Of Brothers four years ago, he has been in constant demand. As well as the lead in Stephen King's Dreamcatcher in 2003, Lewis has played Jeffrey Archer, Simon Fuller (for Alistair McGowan) and a schizophrenic in Keane, a hit at this autumn's film festivals -- Venice, Toronto, Kings Lynn, you get the picture. Already this year he has worked alongside Morgan Freeman (An Unfinished Life), Ewan McGregor (Stormbreaker) and this month, he's on telly and on stage. GQ met the 34-year-old the morning after his match-winning efforts at Sky One's All-Star Cup celebrity golf tournament. Like the England cricket team, celebrations took Lewis deep into the night. ...

GQ: You seem very excited.

Damian Lewis: It was like playing in the Ryder Cup. 15,000 people cheering and the tension of having to make par. I did it, and the crowd went wild. Jodie Kidd, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ronan Keating mobbed me. It was the best moment of my life.

It sounds like you get a buzz from the sport.

I always wanted to be a pro sportsman. There's something gladiatorial about tennis players and golfers holding their nerve until the last moment. You don't get that from acting.

Acting is equally competitive, no?

It's a different ethic, a more selfish and individual pursuit. Only in theatre do you have that sense of teamwork [Lewis is starring in Pillars Of The Community at the National Theatre until February 2006]. There's just something absolute in sport. You either win or you lose. Keane was a massive team effort, though. On a smaller-budget film with a small crew, you're out on the streets of New York cobbling together shots. It's more intimate and I like that. I'm in pretty much every frame of the film and I enjoy that responsibility.

Do you deliberately alternate between mainstream and smaller projects?

I do like to mix it up. I did loads of television dramas, which I had no aspirations to do. I just got offered great TV projects. Band Of Brothers is not TV; it's a ten-hour ... thing. You've got Big Brother and you've got Band Of Brothers. TV's a very wide spectrum. Much Ado About Nothing, for example, is event TV. It's aimed at everybody. It is really well done, beautifully produced.

And then there's Keane, which is much edgier, less populist. ...

With a film like Keane you need a fairy godfather, which we had in the shape of Steven Soderbergh, who pretty much bankrolled the film. For that I will be eternally grateful.

Much Ado About Nothing is on BBC 1 later this month. Keane, An Unfinished Life and Stormbreaker are out next year.

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Caption: Brothers beyond: From left: Damian Lewis on patrol in 2001 TV epic Band Of Brothers; in Stephen King's nightmarish Dreamcatcher (2003).

Caption: Acting is a selfish, individual pursuit. Only in theatre do you have a sense of teamwork.