BRITS' ABROAD; COVENTRY'S Clive Owen found fame in America appearing in movies alongside some of Hollywood's top leading ladies. TV writer MARION McMULLEN finds out how US television is now providing jobs for the Brits.: Television WITH MARION McMULLEN.

Byline: MARION McMULLEN

ONLY in America. The accents can be pure US down to the last vowel, but there's a good chance the star of your favourite American series is actually a Brit.

Stephen Moyer (right) is the latest UK actor starring in the US and sports a Southern accent to play sexy vampire Bill Compton in Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball's latest series - TrueBlood.

The love story/thriller based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels has taken America by storm, ranking a close third behind other top-rated HBO shows Sex and the City and The Sopranos.

It's currently being shown on the FX Channel in the UK and Essex-born Stephen says he first read the script two years ago.

"I'd been coming back and forward to America for about eight years and I was back in London reading scripts but I wasn't interested in anything," admits the 39-year-old.

"I really wanted to stay at home in London for a while with my kids, so I made a deal with my manager. She said, 'Read this one script and I won't bother you again for the rest of the season.' "The next morning, I went with the rest of Equity and put myself on tape. Alan Ball saw it that afternoon and I was flying to LA the next morning - it was that quick."

Stephen plays 173-year-old Bill, an American who fought in the Civil War, got turned into a vampire and finally returns to his hometown Bon Temps, Louisiana.

True love has blossomed offscreen and Stephen and co-star Anna Paquin and they admitted in February that they're also dating in real life, despite a 13-year age gap and the fact that Stephen already has two children from a previous relationship.

"She's fantastic," he gushes. "We hit it off straight away, it's a very family set, we've all been together for two years now and there's a lot of love in our show for each other."

Stephen is the latest in a string of British actors, including Hugh Laurie and Anna Friel, who have been making waves across the pond.

"If a series does run for seven years - and I think this is why so many English people are do-ing it - you are in such a good position by the end of the time, that you can move home and hopefully get to pick and choose what you do next," points out Stephen. The son-in-law of Midlands funnyman Jasper Carrott, Owain Yeoman, was born in Oxford and raised in Chepstow but now lives in LA with his wife, Lucy Davis fromTV comedy The Office, and is currently starring in hit US police drama The Mentalist. The 31-year-old says: "It's always a gamble coming to the US and I say to people if they have the opportunities as an actor then the work climate in LA is very buoyant. "I was extremely lucky. I had a big break out of drama school, and my first audition was for the movie Troy, which was a dreamstart.

"Suddenly it puts you on a radar of people, a wish-list of people that you want to work with. He laughs: "The funniest experience I ever had was when a bunch of women in a shopping mall actually just physically grabbed me and made me stand by their table while they went, 'It's Rigsby from the Mentalist.'. I had to ask permission to be let go. I said, 'Can I leave now?'" British actress Sophia Myles rose to fame with parts in the films Underworld, Thunderbirds and Tristan + Isolde, and has also appeared in Doctor Who. She stars in sci-fi epic Outlander, out on DVD on Monday, and was also in American paranormal TV series Moonlight, which can currently be seen in the UK on Virgin 1. "It was a great experience and I loved every second of it," she says. HUGH LAURIE (right)was best known for his comedy talents in the UK, but appearing as the stubbled, limping super-grouch medic in American hit drama House has turned him into a sex symbol. n HUGH'S long-term comedy partner Stephen Fry (bottom right) has followed him into the world of US TV appearing as a knowing shrink in crime drama Bones. n ASHLEY JENSON (far right) has made herself at home as the fashion guru at Mode magazine in US hit Ugly Betty. She flew back to the UK last year to film forthcoming movie Nativity in Coventry. n SEX And The City vamp KimCattrall, who plays Samantha Jones, was born a Scouser, but moved to Canada with her family when she was a baby.

n PRISON Break's escape artist Wentworth Miller was born in Chipping Camden and grew up in America. Dominic Purcell, who played his brother in the drama series, is a Merseysider butmoved to Australia with his family when he was little. n FORMER Brookside babe Anna Friel (right) brushed up her American accent to play the risen-from-the-dead heroine in the quirky Pushing Daisies. n RESERVOIR Dogs star Tim Roth notched up a TV hit with American viewers as body language expert Dr Cal Letterman in Lie To Me.

n ANTHONY Stewart Head found fame in America playing librarian turned vampire slayer trainer Giles in long-running series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. n LONDONER Marianne Jean-Baptiste became an overnight star following 1996 movie Secrets and Lies and now appears as American FBI agent Vivian Johnson inWithout A Trace.