ON HIS CAREER
"Every time I perform, I work really hard to give part of myself to the audience. Then I do an interview and I read some story that just isn't true, or someone draws a crazy conclusion about my life, and it's such a betrayal. It hasn't happened here, but in Croatia, I've had to stop reading about myself. I don't think actors mean to be secretive - they just don't want strangers looking through their kitchen window." - on why he doesn't give many interviews.

"If a great part comes up and the guy's meant to have an Eastern European accent, great; but if it's a bad part I won't take it."

"One of the major principles of my career is basically ... every job you decide to do, do it like it's the first and the last in your life."

"Acting is my job. If the audience think I am a "heart-throb" God bless them. It's good... or perhaps it's not..."

"I don't know what it is with people out there, all this sex, sex, sex stuff. But I don't think making love on screen is sexy for me or for anybody watching. So, if it's okay with everyone I shall keep my clothes on. I am not a striptease artist."

"I cannot see myself on the screen and I cannot hear my voice. I feel it's awful."

"I've been very lucky. I came here from Zagreb and was signed to a very successful show. Very few actors are in regular work. That makes me very, very lucky.

"Many people envy actors, but they don't realise there's little joy in being an actor if you can't afford to buy food."

"Ivana says I work too hard, but I know nothing else. I spent too many years with nothing not to make the most of it now."

ON WORKING IN AMERICA
"Making my English better is a hard job, a slow job. But it's getting better. Three years ago it would have taken me a half hour to say this sentence."

"I'm working with a dialect coach, but it's not helping. I want everyone to understand what I am talking about, like 'peritoneal lavage', you know, these medical expressions... I don't want to lose my accent, I just want it to become smaller."

"I have problems with phrases like `We visit' - the W and then the V. Things that are very simple to a native speaker are tongue-twisters for me. Probably my English teachers are laughing when they see me on ER because I was the lousiest and laziest student in my class."

"My only goal here in the States is to really try to work on the accent as much as I can, to really polish it to be really good. With an accent like this you're still forced to play certain parts and some parts you can't get, so that's my first concern."

"The first time I came here it was 10 days, then 15 days, then three months. Now this time I have to stay to April. I'm slowly getting stuck here and I miss Europe."

"I would really like to do theatre in my native language because that would be like so relaxed after ER ... English ... those medical words!"

"People ask me, 'Are you concerned you will lose your accent?' I always say it's easy to go back but it's harder to go forward. I speak with a heavy Croatian accent, but I can't speak perfect English yet. It's hard work, but that's my goal."

ON LIVING AND WORKING IN CROATIA
"I'm always trying to be a good ambassador for my country."

"People in Croatia are more relaxed, they work less, they have less money, but they enjoy life more because they are not so busy."

"Growing up in Croatia was healthy. The quality of life is good and you learn to respect others. The people are warm and generous."

"I am delighted to be able to help the theatres where I grew up and learned my profession. I have never forgotten my past."

"When somebody is attacking your hometown, and you're just sitting in the basement, you feel really useless. I felt I had to do it to defend my country. That's normal." - on why he extended his military service.

"ER is a pretty big deal in Croatia. When my agent called and told me about this show, I said, 'Are we talking about the same ER?' And I thought about it for half a second and then said, 'Yes, of course!' I was watching them in Croatia when I was still at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and now I'm working with them."

"What's important is now everything is great. It is a great tourist spot." - on focussing on the country now, not it's war

ON HIS WIFE, AND RELATIONSHIPS
"This cute woman walked into my favourite bar in Gavella, Croatia, about 5 years ago. When I saw her I said "Uh-oh, that's it". But I was shy, so I didn't ask her out until a couple of days later, when I finally found someone who knew her phone number."

"We had our dog at our wedding. He was with us in Santa Barbara, and he was our best man. Just two of our friends and our dog."

"One day I came up with the idea to propose and I said, 'Will you?' and Ivana said, 'Yes.' It was really simple. We got married in Santa Barbara. We had been in Croatia together before we came here, and when I got my first job in the States I asked her if she wanted to go with me and she thought about it for four seconds and agreed. In some ways that decision was more important than saying yes to marriage."

"Ivana is perfect for me. She knows everything about the acting business but never wanted to be in it!"

ON BEING KNOWN FOR HIS LOOKS
"Hunk? I don't know anything about hunk...When I first started being asked about that two years ago, I played dumb - 'Honk, vot does that mean? The thing on the wheel of a car, honk-honk?'"

"I don't understand the word 'hunk.'"

"If people think of me that way, then I might as well let them - it isn't a terrible thing to be called." - on being called a 'hunk'/'sex symbol'

"Every actor wants to be recognized by accomplishments other than looks. It's just genetics. You have no control."

ON EVERYTHING ELSE
(At Shane West's housewarming party in 2006) "It's mostly everyone from the show, so this feels just like being in the studio - except that we can drink here."

(About the ER wedding episode) "...Zegna's jacket is perfect and Gucci's pants are perfect. So we got two suits, and I hope I am going to take one home."

"Here in America, you can have a big car and a big house but you are missing something that you can have in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean. Where I'm from, my parents and my neighbours sit on the streets in front of their houses, on the stairs, talking and laughing."

"Probably be a sailor. But I hope I will not need to think about it in my life." - on what he'd be if he wasn't an actor

"I'm not the biggest, but at 6'4", I am one of the tallest." - on being the biggest star in Croatia

"Not better tables in restaurants, since I'm always sitting on the patio. I'm one of the last smokers, but I've been trying to quit. For three years." - on the benefits of being named People's Sexiest Import

"Parking tickets. And speeding tickets. I'm a very good citizen." - on the closest he has come to breaking the law

"Holiday? What's that? I'm the type of guy, after 10 days of holiday, I'm crazy. I want to work. When I work I feel good. I like what I'm doing, so it's almost like a pure pleasure to work."

"I was doing badly in school back in Croatia, so my parents said I could not watch Battlestar Galactica. It was my favorite show." - on the first time he cried

"Blame it on James Bond. Ever since I saw those 007 movies, the Aston Martin has been my dream car. I've always said that I'd get one, so this year I bought a DB7 Vantage in British racing green. For me, driving is better than fine wine, better than a great meal-- better than anything but sex, really. Going fast is the ultimate thrill. Nothing beats blasting Tom Jones while cruising to Vegas." - on cars

"When there's not much time left, I'll find the time to study whenever I can. Even by day. But nighttime is the ideal time for me to learn. My concentration and ability to memorize work best then. There are no telephones ringing, no faxes coming, no airplanes flying over my house, no workers making noise in the garden... Studying at night is a habit I've had since high school." - on when he prepares for roles

"After an exhausting all-day shoot, I like to get on the Internet and play the (video/computer) game with people from all over the world. Half an hour of that game is all I need to rest from my work. Now that's something I would miss in Croatia, so I plan to buy it and install it at my brother's. I would miss more than that if I were to spend at least three months in Croatia."

OTHERS SAY ...
• Kristen Johnston (Eve in ER) - “Watching him act – he is so intense. He is such a good man, in the scene [from Man With No Name] I definitely rose to a new level. He really made me get on my toes to get on the same page as him."

• Antun Vrdoljak (father-in-law and worked together in Duga Mracna Noc) - ”If you successfully transplant a plant to a bigger garden, the plant’s attributes don't change, it continues to grow and develop even more than it would have in the smaller garden. Goran continued his professional growth there, with much better conditions.”

• Linda Cardellini - "The handsome doctor is such a stereotype, like the heroic fireman. But Goran really is tall, dark and handsome. He's also intelligent, empathetic, and a little bit mysterious. Maybe it's his accent. He's such a strong, dignified man; he harkens back to classic movie stars like Gregory Peck. And he's so polite!"

• Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1 actress,) - "I'm massively in love with him, so that was cool." (after he visited the Stargate SG-1 set)

• Paul Telfer (actor) - "Goran taught me so much about the job of a leading man and what the responsibilities are."

• Julianna Margulies - "I'm a lucky girl! Goran is diligent and funny. I have never seen him as filling in George Clooney's shoes. Goran fills in his own shoes quite nicely."

• John Wells (ER producer) - "Goran has been great for the show. He's a wonderful actor and a consummate professional."

• Noah Wyle - "Every time I read a script, it's like he pulls in his new car -- a Viper -- and then they give him this loft apartment with this great fish tank, and he's wearing these great suits, and I'm slugging around in my white coat and my Jeep!"

• Madonna - "The sexiest male working today is the guy in my video, Goran Visnjic. I thought Welcome to Sarajevo was an excellent film. I was looking for an actor to be in my video and his face came right into my head. I think he's gorgeous."

• Shirley Henderson - "When I got the part, I was amazed. I thought, 'You're joking, he's 6ft 4in and I'm 5ft nothing! Goran's devastatingly handsome, but not in the least bit starry. We'd just sit around all day singing songs and playing hangman together."

• Laura Innes - "Goran is an interesting combination of 'I just got off the boat' and sophistication. He's a really fascinating dichotomy, because in some senses he's this wide-eyed, 'Oh, my God, I'm living in L.A. and on ER' type guy. But on the other hand, he has a point of view as an actor that is strong, and it doesn't matter what country he's in, that's going to come through."

• Committed director Lisa Krueger - "He has the most amazing voice and a bold and direct sexuality. It's rare to have that much presence."

• Laura Innes - "I think the thing people don't really know about him from seeing him on the show, where he's so handsome and groovy, is that he's very silly and self-effacing. And he has this kind of goofy quality in real life that's so incredibly charming."

•

•

•