It's hard to believe that Hollywood bad boy Colin Farrell first came to our attention as the shy Irish farm-hand in the saccharine Sunday night TV show Ballykissangel.

In just a few short years the sexily dishevelled star has gone from a virtual unknown to a major Hollywood player, earning a reputation as a hellraiser along the way.

"I'm still here making movies. I don't think I've really changed in the last few years. I come from a background where being decent, down to earth and respecting people were priorities and that's still how I try to live my life."

Yet the 30-year old's real life is at times more dramatic than the movies he stars in. After his stint in Ballykissangel he headed for pastures new and immediately found himself starring alongside some of the biggest names in the business, including Al Pacino in The Recruit and Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

But it was his off-screen antics which kept the tabloids busy. Recently he spent time in rehab for exhaustion and addiction to prescribed medication.

His decision to sober up has much to do with his two-year-old son James by former girlfriend Kim Bordenave. The couple are no longer together but Colin is clearly a hands-on dad.

"It's great. That first time you hold your baby in your arms, there's such a sense of love which washes over you. It's a very beautiful and pure love, completely unconditional."

"I've realised after five years of being on the road that if I'm going to give four or five months of my life to something, it's four or five months of my life away from home, away from my son, so I better believe in what I'm doing."

The series was as famous for the dodgy 80s clobber and hairstyles worn by the two leads as it was for their crime-busting antics. But both Colin and Jamie got off lightly, as the new version bears little resemblance to the original TV show.

"If I was to think about the early Crockett, I would have been in trouble because I would have been arguing over the suits that I wanted to wear and no socks with my slip-ons and all that kind of stuff, and where's my crocodile!" he laughs.

"Luckily there was a deep kind of friendship and understanding between us that is born of sharing the same beliefs, just being there for each other and trusting one another," says Colin.

"Crockett is someone who would have had one night stands over the years and never be emotionally attached to anyone, but he finds with this woman someone that seems to make perfect sense."

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