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Meet…

Peter Krause

Drop-dead gorgeous undertaker

Age: 37

Occupation: Actor

Lives: Los Angeles, with longterm girlfriend Christine King and son Roman (age 16 months)

Death becomes him: After guest roles in various US sitcoms (Cybill, Spin City) and the occasional movie part (The Truman Show), Peter's finally landed role, the one which sends your profile into orbit, as Nate Fisher in Channel 4's Six Feet Under. As the errant son of an undertaking business, he returns home on hearing of his father's death. This occurs as he's enjoying a quick knee-trembler in a janitor's cupboard with Rachel Griffiths (Muriel's Wedding). "We had a good time shooting that actually. I think Rachel and I had only worked together for a couple of days when it came to shooting that scene, so it was like, 'OK let's jump in.' But it all made sense - that clumsy, hormone-driven fuck inside the janitor's closet - it was kind of a nice way to get the season going."

Erm, this doesn't sound like Party Of Five… True, although Peter also appeared briefly in that particular family portrait. SFU comes from perennial envelope-pushers HBO who previously gave us real sex (in Sex And The City), real violence (The Sopranos) and now, real life. Or rather, real death.

Death? I thought we didn't talk about that… "Well it's always just around the corner, isn't it? And sure, it's new ground for TV drama, but essentially it's a show about relationships, that's what's at the heart of it. Husband and wife, boyfriend and boyfriend, mother and son, brother and sister - in that respect it mirrors everyone's lives. The interpersonal relationships all have a truth to them - you could meet these people, they exist. You sit there watching them, and you think 'Oh my God, I do that when I'm in a relationship' and so on. It's fascinating, and that's what I respond to in the show."

Who's going to watch a show about funerals? Well most of America, it seems. It helps that the show is created by American Beauty writer Alan Ball, but it's the word of mouth that saw SFU move from a 'middle-class only' treat to a national fascination. Two series have already been filmed, a third is on its way.

Nice buns; work out? A teenage athelete excelling at gymnnastics. It still shows. And we get to see this reassuringly often.

He sees dead people: Well, it's all part of the job, isn't it? "The way people die in the show is one of the few fanciful areas, really. I mean, someone falling into an industrial dough-blender, a woman hitting her husband with a frying pan… I know people who've lost loved ones recently who've said they don't feel like watching the show, but then on the other side of that coin you have people who've watched it because it's helped them cope with grief, helped them to look at things in a different way."

Rebel without a razor: Perma-stubble is back! Yes, Nate even attends his father's funeral sporting a three-day growth. "I use a razor with a special attachment, so that Nate always looks unshaven, a little unkempt. At his father's funeral, it's not like he's being disrespectful, it's just that shaving wouldn't seem important to him at that time. He's very anti-establishment, and he just wouldn't process himself for the benefit of others' expectations."

On the differences between himself and Nate: Nate's actually very similar to myself. I struggle like Nate does in deciding on a direction in life I guess. Like him, I find life to be very open - it's there, and you can do anything with it. Unlike Nate, however, I don't feel stuck.

• HBO
• Red - http://www.emapmagazines.co.uk/