{alltv} Shane West is the right man for the job on 'Nikita'

Shane West, star of The CW's Nikita (Thursdays, 9 ET/PT), never got into any of the more recent spy television series like Alias or Dark Angel.

Old school Miami Vice was more his thing.

"But we're not wearing pastels and I'm not driving a Ferrari or a Lamborghini," says West.

It was over a decade ago when West, now 32, first gained attention on Once and Again and then again in 2004 when he joined the cast of ER for five seasons.

"I've been very fortunate, especially with the two series I have done which were critically acclaimed and won awards and things like that," acknowledges the Baton Rouge, La. native.

After his run on ER, West turned to his other passion, music. He went on an American and European tour with the celebrated punk rock band, The Germs. "I'd like to get back to that," says West, who had earlier folded up his own band, Johnny Was, rather than compromise to make a record deal. "It's a crazy dream come true. An absolute rush playing with those guys, being part of that scene."

Then West, who after touring made some independent films which ultimately may never find distributors, decided it was time to get back into "the mainstream" and venture into his first pilot season (auditions for potential new TV series) since Once and Again.

"The (movie) industry is so destroyed right now anyway," says West. "If you're not Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise you are not even being able to audition for a lot of movies nowadays for lack of finances and all that kind of stuff."

Nikita was West's first choice but he was truly surprised they considered and then chose him to play Michael, the male lead opposite actress Maggie Q.

"I don't think they were thinking of me in the beginning," says West, who's just a year older than Maggie Q. "Generally in how Hollywood works, the Gwyneth Paltrow with the Michael Douglas.... I still think they were expecting older but I guess I just did an interpretation of the character that they really liked and they changed their mind."

He may be younger than what the producers imagined but he realizes that for the show's network, the CW, "we're old and gray. ... I think they wanted to try something new and get something edgy and we certainly do that," says West about being on the network known more for it's appeal to teenagers.

West could see himself doing the series for at least fives seasons, even though he's not fond of the "freezing" cold weather that's come over the show's shooting local, Toronto.

Perhaps there's an L.A. girlfriend who could come keep him warm? "I've been single for a couple years, now," he says. "The last relationship didn't end very well and I wanted to make sure I had time to recover, figure out what went wrong inside myself as well so it didn't run over into the next relationship and I feel like I'm absolutely ready at this point."

Until that right girl comes around —maybe someone similar to his "childhood crush" Courteney Cox— West will spend some of his downtime in Toronto pursuing his New Year's resolution at the gym "to bulk up again" and perhaps even try something new.

"It's still something I'm talking about," he says of practicing yoga, which many of his cast mates practice. "I'm actually a little mortified to go, I feel like I need to go alone (rather than with his "yoga freak" co-star Maggie Q.) I'll have to do that first. I'm not going to be able to hold the relaxation pose, I believe, without crying."

And he plans to continue to take advantage of Toronto, which he calls "a small New York City," enjoying the restaurant, theater and concert scene. "It's an exciting time of my life," says West. "I love being 32, it's a great age. It's exciting to see what's on the horizon. Our job is to believe in (ourselves) and not screw up it up."