"Torchwood" actor no stranger to a hard day's work

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A week ago, actor John Barrowman had a chair broken over his back, endured body punches and was dragged across a bar through broken "candy" glass, face down. For him, that's all in a day's work.

Barrowman is starring in BBC America's new sci-fi action series, "Torchwood," premiering Sept. 8. Barrowman plays Capt. Jack Harkness, the character he embodied in the "Dr. Who" series.

In "Torchwood," Harkness leads a team of investigators who use alien technology to solve crimes — way outside the jurisdiction of earthbound law enforcement agencies.

"I run an awful lot in this show in boots," says Barrowman, in the patio of a hotel here. "When I'm running they always shoot it full length because they love to see the coat trailing out behind me. And the coat is so heavy that sometimes your feet get caught up in the back of it and it trips you. 'Cut!"'

Though he's spent most of his life in the theater, Barrowman is no stranger to physical labor. When he was a senior in high school his dad got him a job shoveling coal for a local power company in Illinois.

"My brother and sister and myself — my dad made us do manual labor because he said, 'If you want to do manual labor for the rest of your life you'll know that when you do it, it's a choice,' he said. 'But if you don't like it you'll understand the importance of educating yourself and being — if you decide what you want to do — being good at your craft or your skill."'

Barrowman did the job for a full summer, hating every minute, until he used his considerable charm and logic to escape. "They started wanting me to do things. I looked at them and said, 'I don't know if you understand this, but my father is general manager of Caterpillar Tractor Co. and I know you'd not make a union man do this, so why are you making me do it as a student, which is completely illegal? They went, 'You're John Barrowman's son?' I said, 'Yes.' They said, 'Why don't we move you to the storeroom."'

Of course, Barrowman didn't stay in the storeroom. He'd longed to perform ever since his mom put a wooden spoon in his hands and urged him to entertain party guests. He sang into the spoon as though it were a mic and has been singing ever since.

Though Barrowman sounds as American as the Fourth of July, he's really a Scot and spent his formative years there. But the family moved to the United States when he was 8 when his dad became the first non-American citizen to head an American corporation, Caterpillar.

"I feel like a Brit AND an American," he says. "I think we became more Scottish when we left Scotland. Our patriotism to Scotland became strong but I was naturalized as an American citizen in 1985 and very proud of that. But my home is the United Kingdom. I live in London with my partner. We have a life there. We have two dogs and we have a home in London and one in Cardiff. We also have a home in the Midwest in Wisconsin and we're building one in Florida. One thing my dad always said was: 'Invest in property.' And I've done that."

Barrowman has been with his partner, Scott Gill, for 16 years. Gill is an architect and both of them have had to be flexible with their conflicting work requirements. "I don't think I'd ever leave the U.K.," says Barrowman, who costarred in the short-lived TV series, "Titans."

"I'd do what a lot of British actors do, come and work here, then go back. Because the unfortunate thing, if I were to come over here and live full time, Scott couldn't come with me. He wouldn't be recognized as my partner here by the government and the states and all that stuff. Whereas in the U.K. we're partners and looked on — I don't say gay marriage because I don't personally agree with it — but we have the same rights as married couples which we wouldn't have over here. So we have to take all that under consideration. It's unfair for me to ask him to pack up and leave because he couldn't work over here, either."

Barrowman, 40, insists he's been extraordinarily lucky and never suffered a down time as an actor. "Every time something happens to me is part of my dream coming true," he says.

"I'd love to do a major part in a film; that would be a dream and a goal. It's not something I actively go out and seek because if it's going to happen, it will. Most of the jobs I've done in America have come from the work I've done in the U.K. I've always believed if you do good work, it creates work. I let the agent and the manager do the pushing and let them do the seeking. If a movie part comes up I audition, if it's here in the U.S. I'll come here. I'm flexible."