The ‘X Men’ actor insists he doesn’t look “cool” enough when he is clean-shaven and claims directors always ask him to show up on set with a few days of stubble.

He said: “The truth is, there’s rarely been a role in any movie where I haven’t had to have facial hair as I have a bit of a baby face.

“Every time I turn up on set the director says, ‘I think a four-day growth would be good!’ And every photo shoot I go on I get a call beforehand saying don’t shave because I don’t look cool enough apparently.

“It’s an occupational hazard.”

The 42-year-old star turned down the role of Billy Flynn in movie musical ‘Chicago’ in 2002 because he felt too young for the part, but later regretted his decision when he saw how successful the film went on to become.

He added: “I turned down ‘Chicago’ because I was too young for the part, which Richard Gere played.

“I’d always wanted to do a movie musical and this one came along relatively early in my career. I thought I was too young as there was this one line where he said, ‘I’ve seen it all kid’ and I was about 30! I thought, ‘How am I going to sell this line?’ It didn’t make sense to me.

“A year later it went on to win all the Oscars and I remember thinking that perhaps with a bit of make-up it could have worked.”