Doctor specialises in punk

Shane West plays Ray Barnett on ER.

When Shane West turned up for the most important job interview of his career, he still had on the black nail polish and eyeliner from the night before.

"I didn't know it was for a possible part," he laughs. "I thought it would be for whatever could be in the future. But I could see that their eyes lit up and something was happening."

The executive producers of ER had invited him to a meeting the day after his band, Jonny Was, played a late-night gig in LA. Turns out, a punk was just what they were looking for. Now West plays the flirty and arrogant young intern, Dr Ray Barnett, the latest in the dynasty of ER heart-throbs since George Clooney left the show.

Coming into a drama of that stature "scared the heck out of me", he says. The cast members were tight-knit, hospitals made him squeamish and he was worried he couldn't get his head around the medical terms.

At the same time, things were starting to pick up for his band. They had finally sorted their line-up and, according to West, record labels were starting to take interest. If he took the part, he might be shooting himself in the foot.

Juggling the two jobs is tricky but West has no regrets.

"It's an exciting time right now. But the acting does take precedence, and I have to work around that. The one person that I know to truly make it work is Jared Leto. He's got a rock band as well, but he also had to take a year off, a year or two ago, to do the band thing. So we'll see. I'll give it the best shot I can."

Whether it's his real-life passion for music or his devilish good looks, West has carved a niche for himself in edgy roles. In What We Do Is Secret, he played the troubled gay lead singer of the late 70s punk band the Germs. In 2003 he played Tom Sawyer opposite Sean Connery in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. For his first stage role he played Angel in the controversial abortion tale, The Cider House Rules.

But even before age 15, the age when he decided he wanted to be an actor, music was in his blood.

"I was born in '78. In the late 70s, early 80s my Mom was in an all-girl new-wave band, and my Dad was in a punk band that was essentially ripping off the Clash. But in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there was the Southern rock movement, and I was raised on that. New York Dolls, Sex Pistols and the Pretenders are what I heard growing up."

He soon discovered his punk credentials wouldn't get him far in the emergency room.

"I got doused in blood. I've split apart someone's chest and saw the beating heart as I had to hold it for a whole scene and say my dialogue. I gotta stick tubes down people's throats and stuff but I think the worst was an intestine falling out ... It kind of just fell on my lab coat. That was bad."

So what does his band think of his day job?

"They think it's great. They are all a bunch of Orange County punk kids who have been in 5 million bands and this is kind of worked to our benefit, and we now sound hip.

"They're all movie fanatics anyway. They are very into TV and film, and I've brought them by the set, and they had a good time."

LOWDOWN

WHO: Shane West is Dr Ray Barnett on ER and plays lead guitar in the band Jonny Was.

BORN: June 10, 1978

ROLES: Eli in Once And Again, A Walk To Remember with Mandy Moore, Liberty Heights, A Time For Dancing, Get Over It, Whatever It Takes

SCREENING: ER, Mondays, 8.30pm, TV2.