How Ioan Gruffudd is embracing Tinseltown

As if actors didn't face enough critics in their daily lives. When Ioan Gruffudd took his first major Hollywood role in the 2005 Marvel Comics adaptation The Fantastic Four, his father was less than impressed. A deputy headmaster in his day, his report card to his son was clear: could do better. "It was the first thing he said – literally at the premiere," says Gruffudd, rocking back in his chair with laughter. "He shook my hand and said, 'Yes, well done. Let's go and do something with a little bit more substance next time!'"

Not that his father's thoughts held much sway with the legions of comic book fans who went to see the film, which grossed $150m (£75m) in the US and turned the Welshman into a star. Now he's back in the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, reprising his role as Reed Richards, one of a quartet of superheroes (he's the stretchy one).

Sitting in a Claridges suite, Gruffudd looks so earnest that you can't help but believe he is desperate for this film to work. He's aware the original had its problems, not least the special effects for his own character's superpower.

"I think they [the fans] were disappointed that we didn't utilise that, because he can stretch and manipulate himself into any sort of shape," he says."It's hard to emulate that on screen without it looking a bit goofy. It really is. So we've tweaked it this time, and I think he looks a little bit stronger and is not so elasticated."

The film begins as Reed marries fellow "FF" member Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), but what's liable to get the geeks sweating is the arrival of the Silver Surfer, a shimmering surfboard-riding alien who roams the cosmos.

The 33-year-old Gruffudd is well aware of what the film series has done for him. "It has transformed my career," he says without hesitation. Prior to it, Gruffudd was best known for his television work, primarily as Horatio in the popular ITV serial Hornblower, though he also played small roles in Titanic, as a soldier in Black Hawk Down and then Lancelot in 2004's King Arthur.

"I'm quite enjoying the fact that I'm carving a niche for myself as the go-to guy for heroic leading men," he says. With warm brown eyes, soft skin and gentle smile, he's more your sensitive star than a gruff Bruce Willis-type. But he's evidently serious about making it big in Hollywood. In 2004 he relocated there, something he once said he wouldn't do because there "isn't much depth to it". And he is not embarrassed to admit he wants to earn $20m a picture, once exclaiming, "To people who say [money] will make you miserable, I say bollocks!" But he has also refused a suggestion by an American agent to change his first name (pronounced "yo-wan") and is happy to take on more substantial roles, this year appearing as abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace, which placated his parents. "They were very, very proud," he beams. "It was the first time I'd ever really see my father cry."

Gruffudd grew up in Aberdare, where his grandparents ran an amateur dramatics society and his mother – a teacher, like his father – acted in her spare time. "She would've loved to have been a professional actor but I guess it was a different era to try and do that. So I've benefited from her love of acting as well," he says. "I think Richard Burton said, 'Every Welshman is an actor. It's only the bad ones that do it professionally.'"

Gruffudd got his first break when he was 13, as a lead in the Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm, a role that lasted for five years until he headed to London to study acting at Rada. He was spotted by an agent, and after graduation landed a role in the TV remake of Poldark. The show was cancelled after the first series, but he soon found fame in Hornblower. So successful was it that at one point Gruffudd was getting two sacks of mail a week.

Unfortunately for some fans, Reed Richards is not the only one getting married. After seven years dating actress Alice Evans, whom he met on the set of 102 Dalmatians, Gruffudd is due to walk down the aisle this September. Did shooting the Fantastic Four wedding scene settle any nerves? "I must admit, when I was going through it, I thought, 'This is a nice feeling'," he says. "Alice has been very patient with my procrastinating with my male ways! She did give me somewhat of an ultimatum – a gentle nudge – which was the best thing she could do, really."

Earlier this year, Gruffudd withdrew funding from ioanonline.com, a fan website that he had been supporting for two years, after comments were posted about Evans following her nomination for a Christian award for her role in the 2006 TV film The Christmas Card.

"It was just an unfortunate few that were giving the genuine fans a bad name," he explains. "It was just vitriolic some of the stuff that was said about my fiancée and myself, and I was helping to finance this website. So I thought, 'Well, this is ridiculous – why should I finance this?'"

If the incident shows a tough streak underneath Gruffudd's charm, it's in keeping with his desire to succeed in mainstream film. Next up is Fireflies in the Garden alongside Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe, a film "about bringing up the past and dealing with relationships," Gruffudd says. Dad will be pleased.

'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer' opens today