It is a third of the way through his photo shoot, and Danny Ains is fidgeting. The photographer has already taken one break, frustrated with how the photos are coming out and Ains doesn’t seem to be getting any better. On the photographer’s laptop, shot after shot comes up looking like they belong to a session for low-budget high school senior pictures. Ains simply can’t get comfortable enough to make a picture look natural.

“I hate press…Not THE press, but doing press.” It is odd to hear these words from someone who was so different the day before during our interview. What is even more odd, though, is that Ains can seem so uncomfortable in front of a camera and yet still be an actor. He, however, is quick to correct this assumption. “That’s different,” he offers between clicks. “In a movie, I’m playing someone. This is just for me. I mean, it’s promotional, but it’s also about me as a person. I don’t mind exposing myself as a character but I don’t like the attention on me.” Though he was much more relaxed during our interview, this is a theme that seems to keep popping up both now and throughout his life.

Perhaps best known for his work in Spin City as the charismatic deputy mayor of New York City, Danny Ains (born Daniel Ainsleigh) has come a long way from those first days when he got by mostly on his boyish good looks and infectious personality. In fact, almost every role since Spin City has been a seemingly deliberate departure from his sitcom days. He has even gone so far as to wear brown contacts for most of his roles to tone down his signature blue eyes. Inglourious Basterds, his latest work, is no exception. Along with being darker like most of his previous films, Basterds isn’t short on violence and Ains plays one of the most violent of them all. His character, Sergeant Donny Donowitz is a bat-wielding Nazi-killer in Garret Fox’s World War II flick about a band of elite Jewish soldiers in the US army who go behind enemy lines and extract mortal revenge on the Germans. Ains isn’t just convincing in the role, he’s downright terrifying. Somehow, though, Ains manages to make a semi-psychopath likeable, even getting his fair share of laughs off. If anything, his shining performance in what critics are calling a less-than-stellar movie proves that even with his good looks tuned down, Ains can still deliver. More importantly, his insistence that the film was nowhere near the level it will be once it hits general release is proof that he’s not as bad at this press thing as he otherwise insists.

Acting aside, though, the real story lies in Ains himself. We all know he can act, after all. In Crash alone, Ains was nominated in almost every major awards ceremony only to pick up a handful of wins the next year with his role The Departed. Not bad for a man who seems to stick to ensemble pieces. No, what’s more interesting is the man behind the roles, the one that fidgets like a child during a photo shoot but manages to put everyone on set at ease the second the camera is off. Similarly, when the tape recorder is rolling during our interview, Ains seems tight-lipped and short only to completely reverse to someone smooth, relaxed and downright charming when we grab a drink prior to my leaving. The dichotomy doesn’t end with his professional life. In his personal life, Ains is known to be both a womanizer and a playboy, but also a doting father. Some reports peg him as funny, caring and down-to-earth while others call him a stuck-up asshole. Most don’t even bother to try and classify him. Either way, Dan isn’t about to comment on it. “What does it matter what I’m like?” Questions Ains over his martini (dry, two olives). “People aren’t paying to see me; they’re paying to see a movie. As long as I’m not doing anything illegal or even anything too morally objectionable, why should it matter? I could see if I were convicted for insane drug use or hitting a child but I’m not.” Interestingly, Ains doesn’t seem bothered by the people that so eagerly consume up the information about him –his fans. “If they want to think I’m a jerk, that’s fine. If they want to think I’m a great guy than that’s awesome. I’m really here to entertain them and if thinking I’m funny or horrible helps them sleep at night then I’m fine with that. I’m very aware of who pays for my home and my car. Essentially, the public is my boss and I would never tell my boss ‘Hey, look. You can’t think this or you can’t think that about me.’ In the same way, I’m not going to piss them off by ignoring them either. If they want an autograph or to chat when they see me, who am I to say no? I may not like my personal life being looked into, or being worshipped but it’s not really me they’re after, it’s the public version of me. It’s just another role, really. I’m okay with roles.” To make a long quote short, Ains isn’t about to ever really let the public get a glimpse of the real him. It’s enough to make a person wonder just how much of what we see of him even in seemingly candid moments is genuine and how much is manufactured and carefully thought out. Still, with a flash of a smile and an offer to buy the next round, it’s hard to really hate the man for it.

Garret Fox's Inglourious Basterds comes out in the United States on August 21st.