With Wentworth Miller's new look comes a different attitude.
"My head is like a beacon now," he said, rubbing the stubby locks needed for his role as desperate inmate Michael Scofield on Prison Break (returning 8 p.m. Monday on Fox).
"Now that I have done this show, I am much more cautious about obeying the many rules that we take for granted. When you drive down the highway, you see one of those signs that says if you hit a construction worker, it's like a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison.
"It could happen so easily. (Prison) could happen to you."
For Prison Break, Miller shaved his head. He said that his lack of hair is a daily reminder that one misstep could mean life in prison.
On the series, he plays a man who gets himself sent to prison in order to spring his inmate brother, whom Michael believes was wrongly convicted. Michael's elaborate scheme to spring the brother has met many hurdles, and time is running out.
Prison Break has not had a new episode on the air for months. As the story resumes, it's the night before the brother's execution, and Michael's escape plan has failed. Now it's up to the would-be escapees to try and get back into their cells before they are discovered.
"The appeal of the show is that prison is a real-life story," Miller said.
In fact, while shooting scenes at an abandoned prison in Illinois, Miller said that a man on the crew who had once been an inmate there approached him.
"He said he did not do the crime, but took the fall for someone else," he said. "He told me working on the show was one of the most positive experiences he has had since 1984.
"It's amazing that we are working on a show that actually impacts someone's life in a positive way. It's not something I anticipated when I started this."
Until now, Miller's career has been filled with relatively minor roles. He played a young version of Anthony Hopkins' character in the racial drama The Human Stain. On TV, his resume is filled with small parts.
But with the unexpected success of Prison Break, Miller has emerged as a sex symbol, gracing many magazine covers.
Miller, a 33-year-old bachelor, was born in Oxfordshire, England, the son of a Rhodes scholar. He has only faint traces of a British accent.
He said that his work schedule is preventing him from meeting anyone to date.
"We shoot in Chicago, where it is really cold, and I walk around in a coat and hat as I go down the street," he said. "No one has really seen me yet."
If Miller is trying to be unassuming, it is not working. On this night, at a party for the Fox network, he is among the stars at whom many guests stare. He appears unaware that he is the network's newest sex symbol.
"An actor wants to be respected for his work. Everything else is second," he said. "If the whole hunk thing opens doors for me, gets me to a director I have not worked with before, then I am certainly willing to go along for that ride.
"You have to be comfortable with that kind of thing, to a degree. An actor walks into a casting agent's office, and he is automatically judged. Where do I fit in? What can I bring to this situation? What kind of label are they slapping on my forehead? It's the nature of the beast. You're always boxed in, and you cannot escape."