Jamie Dornan is becoming a household name thanks to his upcoming role as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. Recently, the Northern Irish actor sat down and gave fans a better look at the man whose S&M big screen performance is about to steal the heart of moms everywhere.

Dornan has had his share of television roles (including playing Sheriff Graham on ABC's Once Upon a Time), but his introduction to fame was as a model.

"I've never felt massively satisfied from standing there while someone takes my photograph," Dornan told London Evening Standard. "It's never given me a thrill ...[but] it would take a very foolish man to turn down the stuff that was offered to me. You're in your twenties, and people are going to give you a silly amount of money to lean against a wall with your head down. F*** me, you've got to do it."

The 31-year-old still dabbles in modeling and can be seen working for Zegna, an Italian suit designer, and Hogan, a trainer brand, this season.

For Dornan, getting people to see him as an actor instead of a model was a battle. He "failed" auditions even after getting his first role in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, according to London Evening Standard.

"I mean f***ing hundreds of them, some of them totally humiliating experiences," Dornan recalled. "People attach too much to the idea of being a model, that you can only be a certain way to have done it. You will always be dealing with it. You're an actor who used to be a model who never trained; there are not many directors queuing up."

Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson was, however, (after the departure of Charlie Hunnam, that is), and Dornan now has the role of a lifetime. His Christian Grey character is a bit of a romantic, albeit an X-rated naughty one, but what about Dornan himself?

"I don't know what the template is or what the parameters are, but I think I'm pretty decent at all that kind of stuff," he said when asked about his romantic side.

In fact, Dornan can see himself in a romantic comedy.

"Definitely, 100 percent if it was well crafted, which loads of them aren't," he said. "I like the idea of comedy. Being a leading man can come in many different forms.'"

Fifty Shades of Grey hits theaters Feb. 13, 2015. A trailer is expected to be released soon as the movie completed filming early this month.

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4