Eric Bana says living in Australia makes it ''easier'' for him to hide from celebrity attention.

The A-list actor has a reasonably quiet life because he refuses to move to Hollywood and the paparazzi in his home city of Melbourne leave him alone.

He said: ''They've never been interested in me. They tend not to hang around the same places I do. I think the paparazzi like to live pretty glamorous lives themselves, so if you stay away from all the cool, trendy places, they stay away from you.''

The 45-year-old star - who has two children, Klaus, 14, and 11-year-old Sophia with his wife Rebecca - insists his isolation from Hollywood doesn't affect his ability to land big movie roles and he often finds the publicity machine surrounding his films a ''novelty''.

He said: ''Living in Melbourne has made no difference to my career.

''If I go on a junket, it's a week out of my year and it feels weird and flattering at the same time. It's fine when it's not every day.''

The Australian star also feels his hobbies, which include motorsports, help keep him grounded.

He told Red Bulletin magizine: ''The key is to make sure you don't wrap up too much meaning in your work and having outside interests helps you keep that balance. I'm happy with my life now, but I wasn't miserable 20 years ago when I was stacking shelves, pulling trolleys and doing stand-up comedy.''