Hi Joshua, I'm picturing you sat in some sterile distributor's office.

No, I'm in my house in Los Angeles. That's a lot better than some distributor's office, let me tell you.

Let's talk about the character of Jeremy in Lay the Favourite (1). He's like the lone innocent in a gang of rogues.

Yeah, he's the babe in the woods, he's outside the gambling arena and allows the Rebecca Hall character to connect to a different kind of life.

Are you a big gambler yourself?

I've gone to Vegas, played a bit of poker. The Ocean's 11 (2) lifestyle is a lot of fun. But I know when to quit. My theory is that when the money starts coming out of your pocket, it's time to stop. What I like about Lay the Favourite is that it shows gambling as a profession, as this real grind-it-out job, with no glamour about it at all.

Tell me about your own grind-it-out career on US TV.

I've working on this show called Fringe (3). I don't know how much you know about it, but it's this huge, outlandish science-fiction spectacle. The whole thing is a lot of fun, very inventive. But it's a huge commitment too. When you're working on a television series, you only get a very short off-season. The scheduling of TV is relentless. So you go and audition for film roles but sometimes, even assuming you get them, the dates don't work out, because they won't film it during your down time.

So you think that films are basically better than TV?

Not necessarily. TV, particularly network television, gives you a much greater opportunity to tell a long-form story, to develop a character and keep it detailed. Film, by its nature, is more finite. But yes, I do miss the collaborative nature of film. Because, at the end of the day, you're still working on a TV show and the meter is running. You have to get each episode right and get it delivered in time for the air-date. And if it's not right, too bad, it still has to go on air.

You got your big break playingPacey Witter on Dawson's Creek (4). Do you look back on those days with a wince?

I look back on the haircut, the bad skin and the breaking voice with a wince! I guess I look back the way other people look back at their college years. Dawson's Creek was my college experience.

You've also been keeping the character alive through Pacey-Con (5).

Yeah, I'm keeping him alive in a way that I didn't quite think through. I don't know what I'm doing; you tell me. It's just that, in my life, I've found that show is so damn important to so many people. I hope people appreciate my stance with Pacey-Con. I'm not out to kick the guy when he's down.

Hmm. You've described Pacey Witter as "the greatest television character of all time" and discussed launching a range of spin-off merchandise, such as The Tao of Pacey.

OK, yeah. But if I'm satirising anything, it's the trap of my own mind. It's so difficult to process success when you're young. I'm not surprised that some people never readjust and move on. But that's the trap. Because if you don't, you're dead. If you don't grow as an actor, you really shouldn't be working. So I want to move on and I want to be challenged. I mean, OK, Lay the Favourite is a pretty light movie. But it's still a film by Stephen Frears, with a great cast. You can't walk on set and start fucking around.

You worked on the London stage back in 2005 (6).

Wow, was that seven years ago? I've now reached the age when seven years goes by like that. I've gone from being the youngest guy on set to being the old timer who people come to for stories.

I'm still trying to figure out if you're American, Canadian or Irish (7).

I'm all three, triple nationality. If I had to choose, I think I'm mostly Canadian. As much as I feel a part of American life, there are still aspects of this country that make me glad to be Canadian.

Such as?

The political structure. America is just more geared to the right. Our conservatives, generally speaking, would still be seen as liberal in the States and our socialists would be seen as communists. All of that makes me proud to be Canadian.

In the meantime, you divide your time between a house in Los Angeles and a house in Paris.

In theory! In practice, I spend at least nine months a year in LA. But Paris is a magical place. And living with a woman who speaks French is wonderful (8) and really breaks down the barriers and opens up the city. Ideally, I'd spend a lot more of my time in Europe.

Maybe come back to London?

Well, it's up to you to put the word out. I'd love to do some more theatre. So start the groundswell. I've got an off-season coming up. I can be there in November.

Lay the Favourite is out now on general release.

FOOTNOTES

1) Jackson co-stars with Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Stephen Frears's Vegas-set gambling caper.

2) He cameoed (as himself) in Steven Soderbergh's 2001 blockbuster.

3) JJ Abrams's paranormal drama about FBI agents who investigate mysterious ripples from a parallel dimension. Not to be confused with The X-Files.

4) Wildly successful teenage coming-of-age series that ran from 1998-2003. Jackson played Pacey, wild-card sidekick (and later romantic rival) of geeky, straight-arrow Dawson Leery.

5) Jackson's rueful one-man retrospective, staged as an illicit guerilla offshoot of Comic-Con in San Diego.

6) Opposite Patrick Stewart in David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre.

7) Born in Vancouver to a Texan father and an Irish mother.

8) His partner is Diane Kruger, star of Troy and Inglourious Basterds.