Middle Age Hollywood

Sorry ladies, Joe Manganiello is off the market.

While on vacation in Italy the "True Blood" heartthrob, 33, popped the question to his girlfriend, actress/model Audra Marie, his rep tells PEOPLE.

Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the HBO drama, and Marie met at a 2009 Super Bowl party, but it was anything but love at first sight.

"She wouldn't go out with me for six months," Manganiello told PEOPLE in September. "We started dating a few months before I got cast [on "True Blood"]."



Manganiello says Marie is "a great dresser. She's gorgeous, and she's tall. And she's sweet ... nice. And she makes crazy English breakfasts."

Marie, meanwhile, says her man's most appealing qualities are his "sense of humor, his work ethic and how humble he is with everything that has gone on."

The pair have not yet set a wedding date.

Source: CNN/PEOPLE

Examiner's Melissa Zaro interviewed True Blood's Joe Manganiello recently and here's the TRUE BLOOD parts only.

Getting cast on True Blood was something that you really wanted. What is your favorite part about working on the show?

What is my favorite, favorite part about working on the show? It's being in such good company I think. I come from classical theater training and when I went to college it was a bunch of kids that were hand-picked from around the world. I was around such brilliant, young minds and incredible artists with incredible teachers. Then I came to Hollywood and it was never that good again. You bounce around Hollywood with a bunch of people who are "actors" who don't speak the same language as you. Then I wind up on True Blood then all of a sudden I'm back with....it's like that Blind Mellon video. It was like I found my way back to the land of the bumblebees. Everybody speaks the same language. They're all classically trained theater people. Very intelligent, and deep, and well spoken. So for me, it was like spending ten years wandering around in the woods and finding my way back home. It really feels like I am back home; like I'm amongst my people again.


How stoked are you about coming back as a regular for the fourth season?

In a lot of ways I'm happy. I was so glad they brought me on for six episodes and that was it. So, I didn't know if Alcide was going to come back or not, I honestly didn't know what they were planning. I'm super excited to get to play this character more, I'm excited to be on my favorite show permanently, Also, as a bit of a journey man actor, I mean, it's nice to know where I'm going to be.

A steady job!

Yeah! It's good to have a steady job! Aside from the fact that it is my favorite show and I'm playing my favorite character I have ever played. Honestly, every time I see a full moon I think, "That's my moon!"

How are you dealing with the sudden amount of attention now that you're on the show?

Well, that's definitely been an adjustment. It's weird when you realize that there's somebody ....it's 100 degrees out and there's somebody sitting in a car outside your house waiting for you to walk out. Or if you just got done with a workout and there's somebody waiting for a picture of you. So, that kind of stuff has been a bit of an adjustment. But, the other side of it is that I was at the gym today working out and this girl ran up to me and wanted to tell me that I am her and all of her friends' favorite character on the show.

I think you became a very big favorite for a lot of people!

That's amazing to me! That's incredible to me! I mean, you are going to have that feeling that you're being watched a lot more than normal. But, aside from that you're going to get to share some really cool....fans are going to share some really cool stuff with you. I'm on a show that people love and I'm playing a character that people love.

Is there an actor or actress that would be your dream co-star any time in the future?

Well, Charlaine was asked who she would like to see on the show and she said that she would like to see David Bowie play Sookie's great-grandfather. I think that would be unbelievable as a David Bowie fan, but also as a fan of Labyrinth. I think that would be the best addition to the show ever! A lot of people have been asking me who I would like to see play Alcide's father. I have my dream wish list and I think Jeff Bridges would be great as Alcide's dad. Or Sam Elliott or Sam Shepard; one of those guys would be a dream come true.

Saturday Night Live or Saturday Night Fever? Saturday Night......Saturday Night Live like during the 90's with Farley, Hartman, Sandler...that Saturday Night Live.

Superman or Supergirl? Superman

Day or Night? Night

Vampires or Werewolves? Werewolves (laughs) no question!

Action Films or Comedy Films? Action

New York or LA? (this one was tough for him) New York

Manganiello hit the Pacific Design Center on Sunday night for the ceremony, which acknowledges emerging talent in the arts. Honorees included AnnaLynne McCord, "Glee" star Dianna Agron, and Sofia Vergara of "Modern Family."





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Viewers haven’t yet seen much of the romance between Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse and Manganiello’s Alcide, which takes up much of the third book, Club Dead. But, as Manganiello tells us, more is on the way.

What can you tell us about the future of Alcide that may differ from what fans of the book are expecting?

There’s some unusual alliances formed, I’ll say that. Alcide has some unusual alliances. Alcide has also made some enemies by the end of the season. And you start to see Alcide’s arc. He goes from this unlikely hero construction worker into becoming more of a leader. So you’ll see him come out of his shell a little bit more. He does get involved. And by getting involved, he makes some enemies and some unlikely alliances. And you’re going to see Alcide very much in the middle of a courtship with Sookie; you’re going to him positioning himself among her potential suitors.

There have been two scenes this season where Alcide shows up—one with Sookie, one with Tara—and they’re scared of him, at first. All Alcide has to say is, “I’m a good guy,” and he’s immediately believed. Why is that?

It’s interesting because there are also other scenes where Alcide talks about his instincts—or at least hints at his instincts. He says to Sookie, “I trust you.” In this past episode, Debbie threatens Alcide and he looks at her and says, “I believe you.” I think there’s a lot of instinct; werewolves come from their heart—they act first and think later. Saying, “I’m a good guy, trust me,” I think there’s a vibe that he radiates.

So we are going to see that as the season progresses.

They’ve been under a lot of stress right now. There have been a couple of opportunities for him to go there with Sookie, but if he had taken those opportunities, he would have gone against his moral code. He would be less of a man for taking advantage of her.

“It’s amazing, first and foremost,” he said of landing the role a few years later. “It’s a dream come true, and I want to pull my weight alongside what I think is the best ensemble of actors possibly ever put together.”

As the werewolf assigned to protect Sookie (Anna Paquin), Alcide has shared some close moments with the show’s heroine. Sookie, however, is sort of engaged to Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Alcide is trying to get over the ex who broke his heart. What are the chances of romance blooming between Sookie and Alcide?

“He could have easily taken advantage of Sookie, but he’s just not that guy,” Manganiello said. “I think it’s a matter of Sookie figuring out where she is and Alcide shaking off (his past) and moving on. I think that’s kind of the interesting thing for viewers. Where does it go? Where will it go? Who knows?”

Things are getting a little weird for new True Blood star Joe Manganiello.

While he's not exactly complaining, the fandemonium for werewolf Alcide is getting pretty intense. Not only has one woman already asked him to lick her (she was serious), but a FedEx guy jumped out of his truck the other day just to snap a picture with him.

And then there's the bathroom thing…

"The funniest thing is all of the guys that come up to me and tell me that I'm on their wives' favorite show," Manganiello told us last night at TAG Heuer's Odyssey of Pioneers event in Malibu.

"They chase me into the bathroom to tell me that," he continued. "I've only been on two episodes and they know exactly what I look like."

As if Manganiello's face and body are hard to forget.

"During the season I work out twice a day, six days a week," he said of keeping his 6'5"-self in tip-top werewolf condition. "And it's protein from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. It's just protein and vegetables every day. But I get one cheat meal a week."

His favorites? L.A.'s legendary Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and one of the city's more recent dining hotspots, Umami Burger.

 

Joe talks about his hit show "True Blood" at Comic Con.