SEATTLE - In the Divergent Series, he plays Eric - a menacing bad guy in a dystopian world.
But in real life, Jai Courtney is an amicable Aussie who's taken a liking to Seattle.
"I ate at the Metropolitan Grill, had a pretty serious steak there," he said. "And Serious Biscuit. They make a pretty mean Bloody Mary there, too."
"It feels a bit like Sydney here," he continued. "We're kind of on a harbor. The coffee's good, we do that well. We're all about the oysters and the fresh seafood. There are bars around where they can mix a decent drink."
This week marked the actor's second visit to Seattle, in support of his upcoming film Insurgent – the sequel to Divergent. The movies are based on a best-selling series of Young Adult books.
"The benefit is, most of the fans are female. The challenge is, most of them are 15," he said, laughing.
Wider audiences also know Courtney from roles in Unbroken, Jack Reacher, and A Good Day to Die Hard. He's set to star in Terminator: Genisys later this year.
"Were those circumstances more or less intimidating than you would have imagined going into them?" asked entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb.
"I definitely remember meeting Tom (Cruise) when I got Reacher and kind of playing that moment out in my head before it happened," he answered. "Meeting Arnold (Schwarzenegger) this time around, it kind of blew my mind. I hadn't really thought about how responsible he is for some of the most iconic line deliveries in cinematic history… So, kind of working alongside that was really cool. But they've all been really pleasant experiences."
As his name recognition grows, so does the interest in his personal life. An old video of him playing guitar and singing has more than 70,000 views on YouTube.
"I totally got busted," he laughed. "My mate filmed it and put it up and none of that was to my knowledge until the Divergent fandom got a hold of it and now people know I play guitar."
Courtney begins filming the DC Comics-based film Suicide Squad in Toronto next week.
Insurgent opens in theaters on March 20.
