Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers considered joining the priesthood as a child.

The Tudors hunk is set to play the sinister Father Gaunt in The Secret Scripture, an adaptation of the Sebastian Barry novel of the same name.

The role was a poignant one as the Irish hunk contemplated joining the Catholic Church while growing up.

He tells the London Evening Standard, "I felt I was quite isolated, and I think that's what attracted me. The monastic lifestyle is very isolated. But actually I wasn't suited to priesthood at all. It would have driven me mad."