PAUL Mercurio doesn't want to dance any more. The popular dancer-turned-actor, who jumped to stardom in the 1991 hit film Strictly Ballroom, says while the film opened up a world of opportunities, his role as renegade ballroom dancer Scott Hastings typecast him.

"Strictly was huge and really captured people's imaginations and I'm so pleased to have been a part of that, but the downside is often they don't see past the character I played," the 36-year-old actor says. "Some still have that dancer-guy image firmly in their brain. "While it's terrific I made such an impression, it would be nice if people weren't blinded by it because I've done so many things since then."

Things like guest roles in Blue Heelers, Murder Call, Water Rats and Heartbreak High. And there was also a lead role in last year's stunning Aussie mini-series The Day of the Roses.

And the film front hasn't been quiet either. Since Strictly Ballroom, Mercurio has been in nine movies, including cameos in Cosi and Welcome to Woop Woop.

Six of the films were American productions, but travelling to the US is not the perfect life for a guy with a wife and three children back home in Australia.

"I was considering moving to Hollywood at one stage but I decided it's not a place to bring up your kids," Mercurio says.

"It's a great place to work, but after I've finished a role, I just come back home.

"As an actor you never know whether there's much work ahead, which can be a bit frightening. You've got to have your fingers in a few pies." Mercurio jumped at the chance to make his first foray into children's television as a guest in Nine's Pig's Breakfast.

In tonight's episode, he plays - of all things - a flamboyant choreographer.

"The show is absolutely mad. The first day the director came up and said: 'Paul, I don't want you to be real and natural, you've got to be completely crazy and over the top.'

"Being asked to appear in the show was great because it gave me the opportunity to do something totally different and fun."

His current gig involves playing the dead lover of a lonely woman in the play A Passionate Woman. The role has given Mercurio a chance to expand his acting skills.

"It's given me the opportunity to get in front of an audience," he says. "I'm enjoying it and I feel like I'm ready for a bigger challenge."

It's a challenge that may not be all that far away. Mercurio is working on a script for his own television show.

"I can't talk too much about the project, but it is about one of my passions - beer," he explains.

"It's going to be a magazine-style show about brewing beer and cooking with beer. There are a whole lot of things in negotiation for next year, but you never know what can happen in this profession."

Pig's Breakfast, Channel Nine, Monday to Wednesday, 4pm; A Passionate Woman opens in Melbourne on November 2 at the Comedy Theatre.