PAUL Mercurio, the actor who did for white singlets what Warwick Capper did for footy shorts, has a confession: He hates ballroom dancing. That's right, Mercurio, who shimmied and sizzled his way through the classic Australian film Strictly Ballroom couldn't care less if he never did another rhumba again.

``People just don't believe it when I tell them but I've never been a fan of ballroom. I fully understand its appeal to other people but it's never been the style of dancing I personally enjoy--can't stand it actually,'' Mercurio says with a smile.

Currently appearing in A Passionate Woman at Brisbane's Twelfth Night Complex, Mercurio admits shedding his Strictly Ballroom persona hasn't been easy.

Although he officially retired from professional dancing six years ago to concentrate on his acting career, appearing in several Australian films and mini series, six films in the United States and becoming the face, not to mention the biceps behind Bonds singlets, some people just don't want him to leave the dance floor.

``Strictly Ballroom was a gem of a movie, a gem of a part, and I will always be grateful for it because it opened doors for me that probably never would have been opened but it was a little hard shaking it off. ``But now I've accepted it, even embraced it to a certain degree, and I realise all I can do is be happy with what it gave me and keep building up my body of work in the meantime.''

Which is partly why Mercurio has taken on A Passionate Woman. ``This is the first time I've done live theatre in 20 years, so it's a little nerve-racking. But I've been wanting to do a play for ages to expand my acting boundaries and was just waiting for the right script to come along.

``I think it's a lovely play and, because I have a smaller role it doesn't rest completely on my shoulders. I can look and learn from the others.''

A Passionate Woman stars Britain's Geoffrey Hughes, best known for his television role as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances and Linda Robson, who played Tracey in the English TV comedy Birds of a Feather.

``Basically it's a play about a middle-aged woman whose life is at the crossroads,'' says Mercurio. ``Her son has left home, her marriage is in trouble and she retreats into her past and to her dream lover.'' No prizes for guessing her fantasy man--the other thing Mercurio is known for is his boy-next-door sex appeal.

Steamy roles in the films Exit to Eden and The First 9 1/2 Weeks as well as his series of ads for Chesty Bond singlets have only added to Mercurio's sexy image, which has also been hard to shake off.

``I don't know about it, I certainly don't think I'm sexy but I don't mind really as long as directors know there's more to me than my torso. But I can't complain. At the end of the day that torso has helped pay the rent and feed the kids.''

The kids--Elise, 9, Emily, 7 and Erin, 3--and his wife Andrea are Mercurio's real passion in life. Recently the family went bush, eschewing the city lights for a rural patch of paradise outside Sydney. ``First of all we considered moving to LA because in some ways I'm actually better known in the States than I am in Australia and I do get offered a bit of work there.

``But at the end of the day I didn't want to uproot the family and put them through that time of insecurity, that risk. Andrea and the girls are my world. It's not always easy raising kids, sometimes it gets in the way of other stuff like your career, but who cares?

``Every day my girls amaze me and fill me with wonder and I literally could stop everything I do and simply watch the kids--and now the cows--grow.''

A Passionate Woman, Twelfth Night Complex, until October 16 and then November 16-27. Bookings: 3252 5122.