Jonathan Rhys Meyers has admitted he is vain and that if he had been born "short and fat" he would not be a major star.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald Rhyss Meyers stated that how you look "defines the roles that you play. The reason Angelina Jolie plays the roles she does is because she looks that way."

He says he is motivated by vanity nowadays : "Any actor who sits down in front of you and tells you they're not vain, it's bullshit. To get up in front of a camera, of course you have to have a certain amount of vanity. All acting is narcissism in some way. Am I a narcissistic person? Absolutely. Am I vain? Absolutely."

However he maintains he is not into the Hollywood lifestyle

"You don't see me dating a Hollywood actress," he says. (He was dating Reena Hammer, heir to the cosmetic line Ruby & Millie, until recently). "And you don't see me playing golf with politicians and directors. I live a very un-Hollywood life yet I do a very Hollywood job."

He says he got into acting for the "soft money" it offered.