One of Andrew Lincoln's favorite moments from "Walking Dead" came during his first season on the show.

Here was the British actor shooting his way through a foreboding urban landscape now overrun by murderous zombies known as "walkers."

"It was one of the greatest weekends of my career, you know," he said as his eyes lit up.

"We shut down four blocks of downtown Atlanta, and I get to ride into the city on a horse," he said during a recent interview, at a hotel near where the scenes werefilmed in the city's historic Fairlie-Poplar district. "It was epic."

Lincoln, 40, discussed the show and his career just after participating in a panel discussion at the inaugural Walker Stalker Convention that was inspired by the AMC show.

"There are certain roles that you jump up and down when you get the gig," he said, and playing Georgia sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes was most certainly one of them.

"I don't think I would have been cast in Europe as Rick Grimes, I just don't," said Lincoln, who has done comedy and romantic roles in his native England, where he played law school grad Egg in the BBC series "This Life."

"I read the script, and I'd never read anything quite like it," he recalled during the panel discussion. "I get to wear boots and ride a horse and shoot people for a living? Count me in!'"

It also comes at a time when several networks are investing heavily in dramas.

"This feels like there's a golden age of storytelling going on in TV at the moment," Lincoln said.

The economics of the television industry have allowed several networks to develop original dramas, said Jeffrey P. Jones, a faculty member at the University of Georgia and director of the Peabody Awards, which recognize excellence in electronic media.

"They are producing complex storytelling that is really wonderful narratives that people want to watch," Jones said. "It does seem like a golden age because you're getting not just four networks producing quality programming but lots and lots of networks."

Last month, "The Walking Dead" began its fourth season with its biggest audience ever. More than 16 million people watched the season's opening episode, which aired Oct. 13, Nielsen reported.

The show is filmed in and around the small town of Senoia, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Atlanta. The show's story line also is set in Georgia, which meant that Lincoln had to learn how to sound Southern. When he got the part, he traveled to Georgia before other cast members to work with dialect coach Jessica Drake.

"She's amazing, she writes it phonetically, and it looks like gibberish," he said, adding that he would also ask Georgians to say certain phrases so that he would know what they sound like.

This season, Lincoln said his character will develop a new way of slaying zombies that doesn't involve guns or knives, though he won't divulge details. He also said he's come to admire Chandler Riggs, the young actor who plays the sheriff's son Carl on the show.

"Now it's time for me to learn from him," Lincoln said. "He's a serious actor, this kid."

 

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"Chris won the James Hunt role in a self-made audition that immediately demonstrated he had the range to capture the qualities of a complex character," Howard said in an email to The Associated Press. "He has great instincts and the intelligence and talent to get his ideas onto the screen — and he's a blast to work with. We're halfway through 'Heart of the Sea' and its clear Chris is generating another strong performance."

Hemsworth will also star as a cyber-guru in an upcoming, not-yet-titled Michael Mann thriller. "Chris is ambitious and uninhibited," said Mann in an email. "He's artistically down for the cause. He's there for you. I had been told that by Ron Howard."

When preparing for the role in Mann's film, Hemsworth took computer lessons for two and a half months. "I couldn't be more inept in mathematics and computers," he said, adding with a chuckle, "It was quite a steep hill to climb for me."

Luckily, Hemsworth is always game for a challenge — even if it means taking a pay cut to tackle meatier roles. "Look, it's great to earn money," says the actor, who has a 17-month-old daughter, India Rose, with wife Elsa Pataky. "But it's not why I got into it. There are obvious great bonuses financially, but I don't pick roles on that. You can't. If you do it's a short-lived career and you end up in one type of thing."

Back in 2007, when Hemsworth moved to Los Angeles from his native Australia, his goal was to conquer Hollywood. But he had to struggle to find an audience.

"There was a period of about eight months where I wasn't working and I was pretty close to going back home," said the actor, who's also worked as a bartender. "I was sick of having the door slammed in my face and feeling like I wasn't good enough. But, I knew I loved storytelling and movies. There was nothing else I really wanted to do."

Luckily, appearing in 2009's "Star Trek" helped him get noticed. "It was such a small role, but Kenneth Branagh saw it and cast me in 'Thor,'" Hemsworth said.

The actor's 23-year-old brother, Liam, who stars in the upcoming "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," also auditioned for the part. "But, they said he was a little bit young," said Hemsworth. "Then my manager was like, 'Well, he's got an older brother.' So, if anything, Liam got me in there. It was a team effort. We are competitive, but not in this business. There are too many variables you cannot control."

Despite his success in Hollywood, Hemsworth still fights anxiety on "every set I step on," he says. "I can't help but think, 'Do I have a handle on this? Am I going to be able to make this truthful?' But I like that question mark. It keeps you alive. There is a danger to becoming too comfortable."

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