"I hadn't acted at school at all. The first time was for my audition for RADA!
I went straight from school to do a YTS [Youth Training Scheme] course at Bangor tech before getting an apprenticeship at Anglesey Aluminium. I was there for three years before realising it just wasn't for me.
So I lived in London and America for a while, did various jobs until I figured that I really wanted to be an actor.
I'd always loved films and there was just something in me that said, 'I know you've never acted, but I know you can do it'.
I didn't get into RADA - I hadn't a clue what I was doing in that first audition. But I did get a recall for the College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and studied there for three years. I soon realised that it's a tough business, but you've got to stick at it. You've got to persevere.
I eventually got jobs on series like Belonging and Where the Heart Is, and I've just come back from filming an episode of The Tudors in Ireland. I haven't done much costume drama on TV, only on stage really.
I've also just finished filming The Human Factor in South Africa. It's a film about the year leading up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup and I play the captain of the white bodyguards hired by Nelson Mandela to work alongside the black guards from the NAC.
Spending two months there with Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and Clint Eastwood was a really special experience. Everyone was so good-natured and hard-working as we worked towards getting this project out there.
Only a few of the Americans knew anything about rugby, but I think by the end they appreciated how tough rugby players are, maybe in comparison to American football players with all their padding.
I think this will be the first ever rugby blockbuster, so it should raise the profile of the game in America.
As films were always my first love, growing up watching Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne, it was a dream come true to be part of one. They're a one-off, with a beginning, middle and an end. Different to TV series, which just go on and on.
I've done work on the stage and TV in Welsh, too. I like acting in both languages, although, as I'm first language Welsh, I do feel more detached from an English-speaking character.
I also think in Welsh, even if I'm acting in English, especially during emotional scenes. That's a bit of a contradiction really, I suppose.
My advice to anyone thinking of being an actor is that you've really got to believe in yourself. You've got to keep at it, even if you wonder what's the point, and feel like getting a job with a regular wage would be better. Because suddenly, out of nowhere, you're sitting down with Clint Eastwood.
This doesn't happen to everyone, of course, and success doesn't come to everyone in their 20s, either. It would be so boring if it did. So you've got to be stubborn.
Several people told me, when I started, 'But you've never acted before'. But I knew it was what I wanted to do, which is great; not everyone knows what road they want to go down in life." Julian Lewis Jones
After a late start in his career, actor Julian Lewis Jones became a regular on TV and now he finds himself working with the likes of Clint Eastwood.
