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By Root 499 0

open countryside, Brentwood gained some unfortunate, if slightly humorous, attention in the 1990s when it was dubbed the most boring town in Britain after the former manager of Brentwood Theatre was misquoted as saying that it was hard to pick something interesting about Brentwood. His comment had been completely misunderstood; what he in fact meant was that it would be difficult to choose from among all the interesting events in Brentwood’s history. That “Bored Town” is an anagram of Brentwood only added fuel to the fire of a town’s name whose actual etymology is “burnt wood.”

In 2007, Stephen Moyer, now one of the town’s most notable personalities, became Brentwood Theatre’s first patron, supporting their “Reaching Out, Building On” campaign to help fund backstage facilities. And, at long last, the (always perfectly interesting) town can boast something truly memorable — vampires. Well, at least an actor who plays one on TV. Twice, in fact.

Before True Blood, Moyer was cast as a vampire in the BBC series Ultraviolet. The biggest difference between the two experiences? “I did play a vampire in 1998 . . . and I have these [naturally large] canines that you can see . . . So we decided [in Ultraviolet] not to give me fake teeth.”

Moyer’s roots in the theater community run deep. He founded his own theater company, The Reject Society, and went on to graduate from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, Young Vic, and the Oxford Stage Company, playing Romeo and the lead role in Pete Townshend’s rock opera The Iron Man.

After making the transition to television, with lead roles in BBC’s The Grand, NY-LON (alongside Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones), and Lilies, Moyer began to land film roles alongside some of the most decorated stars in the business. His first feature was Prince Valiant (1997) opposite Katherine Heigl, followed by Quills (2000), which co-starred Academy Award–winning actors Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, and Michael Caine. In 2007, Moyer gained familiarity with North American audiences in his starring role in the acclaimed miniseries The Starter Wife, with Emmy Award–winning Debra Messing, and a co-starring role in the dramatic thriller 88 Minutes with Academy Award winner Al Pacino.

By this time, Moyer had traveled all over the world, and was ready to go home. “I wanted to be back in London,” Moyer says, “I wanted to be with my kids . . . so I turned down a few scripts.” As a teen, Moyer fronted the band The Prophecy. But could he have known what would happen next? Moyer had just settled back in England when a script arrived for a television show about a telepathic waitress living in a small Louisiana town who takes up with a charming, if quite old, vampire. Moyer was unfamiliar with Charlaine Harris and her books, but immediately recognized one name: American Beauty writer and Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. He made the tough call to move to Los Angeles, ending his relationship with British journalist Lorien Hayes with whom he has an eight-year-old daughter, Lilac. (Moyer also has a 10-year-old son, Billy, from a previous relationship.)

“I didn’t want to come to America straight away . . . [when] I found out it was by Alan, I read it, and put myself on tape the next day. Alan saw it that afternoon, and I flew [to the States] the next morning. As soon as I got the job, I started doing the research, and reading the books . . . I could totally understand what Alan saw in [the books]. Sookie’s amazing, Bill’s a fantastic character, and the world that Charlaine sets up is just unbelievable.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, was his introduction to Anna Paquin, who plays his on-screen love interest and quickly became his off-screen interest, too. On the red carpet at the 2009 Emmy Awards, Moyer talked about what first drew him to the woman he proposed to after two years of quietly dating. “She doesn’t take any of my nonsense,” he told E! News. “She is very funny, and very frank . . . and beautiful.”

Life seems good for Moyer. True Blood has