Q&A with Lee Ryan

Lee Ryan shot to fame as one quarter of the hugely successful
boyband Blue aged just 16, the same age this Closer Online staffer was
doing her GCSEs!
Since Blue disbanded in 2005, Lee has pursued a solo singing career
and has just made his acting debut in The Heavy as a gangster. Loving
the hair for the role Lee.
I caught up with Mr Ryan earlier this week to talk about his
forthcoming film, his Blue days and the ladies. Chatty and friendly,
Lee was just lovely. Oh, and his dapper turqoise suit cannot go without
a mention.
So, start by telling us a bit about your role in The Heavy, did you find it challenging?
It was amazing, it was challenging because I made it challenging. I
pushed myself as much as I could. As much I do in music. I was so
pleased to do the film – I mean look at the cast!
Talking of the cast members, you’re starring with Vinnie
Jones – is he as gutsy in real life as he came across on Celebrity Big
Brother?
I didn’t spend a lot of time with Vinnie. I spent a lot of time with
Gary [Stretch]. Gary for me was a big mentor. I was constantly
bugging him, asking him, can we go through this can we go through that…
Do you have any funny stories during filming for us?
Yeah, there is this torture scene when Vinnie Jones chops my
character’s fingers off. I had prosthetic fingers on and Vinnie kept
on going to the director before the takes, ‘What, this finger?’ And I
had my mouth strapped up and was like *makes gagging noise* ’cause I
didn’t want him to chop off the wrong finger. Then people would be
like, ‘That was good acting’ and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I actually lost my
finger!’
Ha! Are there any actors or directors you’d love to work with?
I’d like to work with Guy Ritchie, Shane Meadows and Nick Love.
There are some American directors I’d like to work with too. Acting
with Leonardo DiCaprio would be amazing – he’s an actual idol!
Now you’re pursuing your music career at the same time as acting. Is it intense doing both?
I think people were writing me off for a while, probably saying how
they didn’t think I was going to come back with anything. I feel proud
because I don’t know many people that have worked on a film like The
Heavy, and pursued a singing career at the same time. Other films are
coming off the back of this one, although your first is always your
most important. I’ve recently been cast in a new movie called ‘The
Warrior King,’ by an actual legend by the name of David Winters. He was
involved in the musical West Side Story which I gew up watching.
You’re releasing Secret Love which is a dance track – is dance your favourite type of music?
Nah. The album is not a dance compilation, but Secret Love is the most
stick-out single. Personally, I love a ballad. I love soul. My
favourite artists are like Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye…
Your former bandmate Duncan James said Blue will reunite – when will that be?
I will do Blue eventually, but you know we’ve all got separate
projects we’re all working on. If Blue got back together, we would do a
lot more of a club album – we wouldn’t come back and be all bandy.
Do you have a favourite Blue song?
Oh God I love so many of the Blue songs some of my favourite stuff were the ones that weren’t singles.
Mine’s Breathe Easy.
I’m glad you like that, I love performing it. It’s funny you picked it ’cause that’s one of the only singles I wrote for Blue.
It’s a fab song. So, would you like your children to go into show business?
It’s down to the kid, it shouldn’t be down to the parent I think. My
little boy enjoys performing. I’ve already given him his first guitar
lesson.
Moving on to the ladies, what qualities do you look for in a missus?
Personality.
More then looks?
Yeah, definitely! You can find someone who’s really pretty but ugly
inside and pretty quick they turn into Medusa. I only said Medusa
because I saw Clash of the Titans the other day! One look and you’re
turned to stone! I love girls who are silly. I’m quite a kid at heart –
now I’ve got kids I can be even more of a kid.

What do you make of the recent celeb cheating scandals making the headlines?
I know it’s not fair, but people make mistakes, that’s all I can
say. My favourite saying is, ‘the heart has no rainbow if the eyes have
no tears’ which I think we can all live by.
[Source: Closer]

Merci =D