Hit actor Owain Yeoman has opened up on fame, money and his very unusual second marriage proposal after becoming an established star in the US.
The 34-year-old from Chepstow, who recently got engaged to a jewellery designer a year after his divorce from The Office star Lucy Davies, has just completed 100 episodes of the popular CBS crime series The Mentalist.
As well as being a big hit in America the show is being re-run all over the world.
But Yeoman says he has no plans to rest on his laurels or his big earnings, saying: “I rang my agent (after the 100th episode) and went ‘Brilliant, I’m set now aren’t I?’
“But it’s not what it used to be. Whether I can retire on to my own island or not, I don’t think I’m there just yet.”
The Mentalist stars Australian-born Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, a psychic who uses his powers to help the Californian Bureau of Investigation solve murders.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) and Oxford University English Literature graduate Yeoman, whose parents Mike and Hilary still live in South Wales, plays special agent Wayne Rigsby.
Speaking in an interview in Australia, where The Mentalist is a big hit, the Welsh actor was asked if he was treated as a “hotshot star” when he went back to Chepstow.
He said: “No, I’m put firmly back in my place when I get back to the pub, surrounded by old rugby friends who remind me acting is a great hobby.”
Asked if Americans were surprised to hear his Welsh accent off-screen, he added: “Yes, it’s a real compliment when people don’t realise I’m not from America.
“It also allows you to get out of a scrape quickly if someone recognises you in public and says ‘Are you that guy?’ And you say ‘No, no, I’m British.’”
In October this year – 12 months after his divorce from 39-year-old actress Lucy Davis, the daughter of comic Jasper Carrott who played love-lorn Dawn Tinsley in The Office – Yeoman got engaged to jewellery designer Gigi Yallouz, 27.
The couple had a “only in Los Angeles” first meeting last Spring.
Yeoman said: “Our cars pulled up opposite each other at a traffic light on Crescent Heights!
“We started dating after exchanging numbers.”
Of the engagement, he said: “It was quite a challenge picking out the ring as she is a jewellery designer after all.”
After selecting the diamond ring, the Welshman – a vegetarian who supports animal rights organisation Peta – enlisted the help of his French Bulldog Cash in asking for Gigi’s hand in marriage.
He explained: “I proposed at home by making a candlelit path of 500 rose petals to where Cash was holding a sign in his mouth saying ‘Will You Marry Him?’
“It took me quite some time to arrange before he understood that he wasn’t supposed to eat the sign!”
Yeoman, who now has more than 50,000 Twitter followers announced he and Gigi plan to marry in Malibu next year.
He thanked his Twitter followers for their congratulations, adding: “We are very happy.”
Yeoman, who previously starred in the movie Troy and in HBO’s marine corps drama Generation Kill, has been living in Los Angeles for nine years where he has fellow Welshsmen Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys, from Cardiff, for company.
Owain said: “We’ll watch the Six Nations rugby in Ioan’s garage, his ‘man cave’ where he entertains his mates.
“And Matt will occasionally start daydreaming of a fish and chip shop he wants us to open in Santa Monica. So if the acting doesn’t work out, at least we’ll all have something to fall back on.
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