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GQ Exclusive: True Blood’s Joe Manganiello

Joe Manganiello plays werewolf Alcide on True Blood, and even though he’s a good guy, you definitely get that there’s a beast within. Part of that is thanks to his bonkers physique: The 35-year-old actor is 6’5” with pecs that rival Thor’s. He’ll use that same genetic leg-up playing Big Dick Richie in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike (out June 29th) about a troupe of male strippers who show a newcomer the ropes (the script is loosely based on co-star Channing Tatum’s experience as a stripper). In a GQ.com exclusive, Manganiello talks about staying in Chippendales-shape, Alcide’s thing for Sookie, and dressing up like Captain Morgan.

Brett Martin Goes Whale Watching with True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard (and, uh, his Dad)

It’s hard enough on a healthy male ego just kind of standing around a guy like Alexander Skarsgård, whose Viking physique, showcased to such great effect on HBO’s True Blood, tends to make one feel small and soft and generally shabby in comparison. One does not need the extra discomfort of being humiliated by his dad. Skarsgård’s father, Stellan, happens to be Sweden’s biggest movie star, best known on these shores as the quadriplegic roughneck in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves or as the Swedish travel writer performing off-key ABBA songs in Mamma Mia!, depending on how you like to think of yourself. I’d called Stellan in Stockholm and informed him I was going whale-watching with his son. “Ever since he went whale-watching, he won’t stop talking about it. Everybody has to go! It’s a plague!” he affectionately complained. Then came the setup: “Listen,” he said, the lugubrious voice oozing authority. “Bring a sweater. It’s cold out there.”

Photo: Carter Smith