TV use to be the final resting place for once diligent actors, but now, thanks to the permutation of venturesome cable stations, some creative minds, and, as is the case with Entourage, a plethora of real-life stories that one can snatch as a muse - the idiot box is suddenly the place to be. Just ask Jeremy Piven.

Though the versatile actor has always been good friends with all the right people (he’s best friends with John Cusack since his youth) and has co-starred in some of the most successful movies of all time (though “I’ve always been like the fifth lead guy”, he admits) 40-year-old actor Jeremy Piven is anything but a household name. Things are quickly changing though, and it’s all thanks to - not only obvious talent, but also - one of the best shows to ever grace Cable TV.

The unpretentious actor, whose film credits include The Family Man (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Runaway Jury (2003) and Old School (2003), admits feeling singed by the heat surrounding his performance as haughty super-agent Ari Gold on Entourage, but doesn’t like to think that he’s now ‘made it’.

“I think when you start thinking in those terms, about whether this is your big break or not, and where you’re situated in the food chain, you stop working hard and progressing, and the hunger to always be and do better subsides”, says the actor.

Since it’s premiere stateside, Entourage has become one of the most popular television series’ in the land, and now, it’s about to widen it’s fan-base to include Australians.

The brainchild of underpants-spruiker turned actor Mark Wahlberg (Three Kings, Boogie Nights), and loosely based on Wahlberg’s early days in Hollywood, Entourage is a peephole into the daily life of an up-and-coming movie star named Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his steadfast pack of friends. Their combined soul purpose in life? to make Chase the biggest box-office star in town.

Piven, who seems the polar opposite of his supercilious on-screen persona, says he accepted the offer to do the show because “HBO, the network that makes the show here in America, is the best place to do television because they give their shows a chance to find a voice. I worked on ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ early on there too and it seems to house the most creative freedom on television.

He continues, “For me, it’s also a chance to really crack open a character and develop a significant relationship with your audience.  Television kind of explores tragic flaws.  The show runs almost like a stage play where there is a scene factor”.

Though quite wild, most of the storylines in the show are actually based on real-life occurrences, says Piven. Chase is based on Mark Wahlberg and Chase’s titular entourage are based on Wahlberg’s posse (”they’re a really interesting bunch”, he says), Piven knew therefore that the show would have a lot to play with.

“Being in the belly of the beast in Hollywood I know that it is a very creative playoff not too farfetched from what exists in this reality”, he laughs.

Since the show is set in Hollywood, it makes sense to fill the screen with famous faces. The show’s producers have had no trouble coaxing some of tinseltown’s biggest stars to make appearances. In it’s first season, Entourage featured cameo appearances from such luminaries as Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer, Luke Wilson, Larry David, and Scarlett Johansson. But why would such big stars want to appear for a few minutes on a TV show?

“Because we all - as celebrities - live in this world and it lends itself to a pretty specific voice we’ve created for the show, not too far off from this familiar reality. Those that have done the show don’t take themselves too seriously and don’t have a problem being self-deprecating… We all win from that”, explains Piven.

He continues, “I went to a premiere for a film in which Gwyneth Paltrow was starring and she looked to me in the middle of it and told me how much she enjoyed the show People of that calibre want to be involved! People like the show!”, he, rather staggered, confesses.

It’s a safe bet that John Cusack, his co-star in the films Say Anything and Grosse Pointe Blank, will be asked to guest-star down the line too. “We’ve known each other for years - we’ve shared an apartment, and a house, and we went to NYU together”, says Piven, who’s tight-lipped on whether he’s actually offered his friend a chance to guest-star.

Stage-trained Piven, who says despite appearing in a slew of films in his younger years can’t really relate to the show’s titular character, Vincent Chase, wants to use this opportunity to coax another guest-star onto the show - an Aussie actor. “I think that the perfect client for Ari would be Russell Crowe, he’s the kind of client Ari would chain himself to a desk for.  Russell would probably be horrified by Ari but intrigued by his tenaciousness and possibly his love for his family”.

Now that we would like to see.

Entourage : The Complete Sixth Season is now on DVD and Blu-ray