Alexander Siddig Talks GoT, DS9, and When He Felt Like a Real Actor {PHOTOS + VIDEO}

Hunger TV just published a terrific, multimedia interview with Alexander Siddig. The video includes answers to a variety of questions, from how he was cast in Game of Thrones to which other character he’d like to play to his favorite scene this season.

In the print interview, Sid talks about the differences between filming Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Game of Thrones; which project finally convinced him that he’s an actor; the changes in the TV landscape; and much, much more. Here’s an excerpt:

When you left drama school you started working as a director. Is it true that you fell into acting accidentally?
I fell into acting back when there were no Arabs anywhere. There really weren’t. In 1990/1991, someone hired me to do a TV series because I was the only actor with an Arabic name in their mid twenties. The only other person at the audition was a mini cab driver who had answered an advert; he wasn’t an actor at all. That’s how desperate they were; they were putting ads in the papers. Acting paid in a way that directing never did. I always thought I was going to direct, I still thought I would until I was about 40, and I’m 50 now. I thought acting was just a temporary job and that eventually I’d get to do what I wanted to actually do. I wasn’t serious about acting. It was when I made a movie called Syriana I realised and I was an actor; that was how people saw me. There was no point trying to swim upstream.

New photos by Jack Buster round out the feature. Watch the video Q&A below, then head over to Hunger TV for the full experience.