LOS ANGELES (Back Stage) – Nathan Fillion expertly walks the fine line between obnoxious and charming, on screen that is.

He has flawlessly embodied confident characters you love despite (or maybe because of) their brash confidence. Think “Firefly” leader Malcolm Reynolds, “Dr. Horrible” hero Captain Hammer, or his current incarnation as self-assured mystery writer Richard Castle on ABC’s hit “Castle.

In real life, Fillion is decidedly more easygoing. Perhaps it’s a Canadian thing; Fillion was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, the son of teachers who, as a child, he can remember adults approaching on the street to thank for changing their lives. Those parents, he says, helped instill in him a sense of gratitude and appreciation.

Of his prolific career, he says, “I think I’ve been really good at surrounding myself with really talented people. I’ve picked the right coattails to ride on.”

Despite having won countless numbers of dedicated fans from his time on such cult series as “Firefly” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” not to mention starring on hit shows like “Desperate Housewives,” he maintains, “I don’t expect anybody to know who I am.”

BACK STAGE: YOU WERE STILL IN COLLEGE IN CANADA WHEN YOU BOOKED THE ROLE OF JOEY BUCHANAN ON “ONE LIFE TO LIVE” … HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO LAND THE JOB OUT OF CANADA?

Fillion: I had just barely passed one of my courses and was thinking I would go back for a summer session to pull up my GPA, and the phone rang and a lady casting out of New York for “One Life to Live” had found a tape that I had sent the year prior to Vancouver for a Canadian movie that I didn’t get. And that tape went from Vancouver to L.A. to New York without my knowledge. Just casting directors passing it on over the course of a year. They called me and said, “If you’re still interested, we’ll fax you a script, you FedEx us a tape. Three weeks later, I’m living in New York City.”

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Credit: reuters.com