William H Macy began his career in theatre, working with the acclaimed playwright and director David Mamet, then on Broadway in New York. He has starred in dozens of films over the years in a distinguished career which spans cinema, television and theatre.

He received an Oscar nomination for his role in Fargo. He has written film and TV scripts with his writing partner, Steven Schachter. His recent movies include Bobby and Thank You For Smoking.  Macy is married to actress Felicity Huffman. They live in Los Angeles with their two daughters.

Excerpts from an interview with the actor:

What was the appeal of your character?

I love Dudley because he’s completely honest, he is naive and forthright and yet he’s brave.

My agent sent me the script for Wild Hogs and said: ‘You’ve got to say yes to this’ and I don’t do films like this that often, it is rare for me. I got my wife Felicity to read it. She read it and said, ‘This is a great character in a very funny movie, you should do this, it is a fantastic role for you’. So I said ‘Ok’. And I am so happy I did. It was such fun playing that character. Plus I got to ride motorcycles.

How much experience did you have with motorcycles? 

I had ridden motorcycles before, so I knew how to ride a bike, but I had never ridden Harleys and I can tell you it is as much fun as it looks.

It can be really dangerous, there is a horrible period when you have learned to master the bike and you are pretty good, but you are still essentially a novice and that's when you can get hurt. If you get through that period and get some experience, I think it can be safe, if you wear the proper clothing and you ride as if everyone’s trying to kill you!

How many of the stunts did you do in the film?

The stunt guys did anything that was dangerous, they were brilliant and they did all the difficult stuff but we did all our own riding. We trained to ride very close to each other and it is frightening even at 30 miles an hour.

Have you had any crisis turning 50?

No, as actors we get to live such great fantasy lives anyway, so we have the tendency to take our crises and spread them over years. I turned 50 and I noticed that I did buy a Porsche; I don’t know what that signifies.

Is acting still a passion?

Yes I love what I do. Being away from home is getting tiresome though. But my career has recently expanded a bit. My wife has an excellent TV job and that has afforded me the opportunity to do some things I haven't done before - so I have produced a movie. I wrote it and it is called The Deal. The title will probably change.

I am so pleased that I actually produced it; I raised three million dollars outside Hollywood from civilians. It has no distributor; an eight million dollar budget and it took me two years to do it.

But I am about to start filming in South Africa very soon, it is a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and myself and I am so excited. I have really enjoyed the experience of producing and raising the money.

I hear you are also directing a film?

Yes, it is called Keep Coming Back. And I’m also a producer on that one. It is the first film project I have directed for a long time. I have directed one small film for HBO many years ago and this one is my first feature, it is all new for me.

Would you like to act with your wife?

Absolutely. As soon as she is out of Desperate Housewives in a few years, we want to go to New York and do a play. I love working with her.

DHNS