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Joseph Morgan Talks Marriage, Singing in the Shower, and 'Serial'! (Exclusive Photos)

Joseph Morgan Talks Marriage, Singing in the Shower, and 'Serial'! (Exclusive Photos)

Joseph Morgan in a tux? Yes, please!

The 33-year-old British actor couldn’t look any more handsome in these new JustJared.com exclusive portrait session photos.

Joseph currently stars in The CW’s The Originals as the hottie vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus. In our exclusive interview with Joseph, he chats about married life to his new wife Persia White, his New Year’s resolutions, and of course, The Originals!

The Originals returns TONIGHT, January 19 at 8pm EST on The CW. It’s the first episode back from the winter hiatus so be sure to tune in! Klaus is currently preoccupied with protecting his baby daughter Hope from Dahlia’s curse. He’s also hellbent on keeping Cami (Leah Pipes) safe from his vengeful brother Finn (Yusuf Gatewood), while Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) and Jackson (Nathan Parsons) devise a plan to bring the vampires and werewolves together to consider a truce.

Click inside for our full interview with Joseph Morgan…

Joseph Morgan Interview – JustJared.com Exclusive

Just Jared: What is the potential for another crossover between The Originals and The Vampire Diaries?

Joseph Morgan: It’s an interesting question, because we’ve done two so far. With Tyler coming over seeking revenge and we did one with Tatia, which was Nina [Dobrev] coming. There’s a lot of people wanting to see Caroline crossing over to New Orleans to visit Klaus, because of that sort of unresolved romance that happened back in Vampire Diaries.

I’m sure they will use another crossover because why wouldn’t they? It’s a wonderful opportunity. It might be nice to see another character that I don’t have a history with. I like Michael Malarkey, who plays Enzo on Vampire Diaries. I’d love him to cross over just ’cause I’d get to spend more time with him then, he’s a good bloke.

JJ: What can we expect with the dynamic between Elijah and Hayley, with the baby in play?

JM: It’s going to be more and more difficult, although there’s definitely some feelings between them, as we saw in the episode that aired just before Christmas. They still definitely have feelings for each other, but she’s now betrothed to Jackson. She’s gonna marry for the good of her pack so that they could absorb these powers that she has and have a strong line of defense for her daughter, for our daughter. It’s going to be a forbidden love between them. That’s the most interesting kind, isn’t it?

JJ: Do you think we’ll get to expect Claire Holt‘s character, Rebekah, back?

JM: I hope so, because I really am fond of Claire. I’d love it if we do. I should imagine so. I spoke to her very recently. I know she is up for coming back, and we’re up for having her!

JJ: Was your first audition for Harry Potter? Could you rewind us back to those days?

JM: (smiles) Yeah! I was just in drama school and I just signed with my agent in the UK. I was 21, and I heard about them making the Chamber of Secrets, which was the second film. There was this part, Tom Riddle, and this woman called me, who was interested in being my agent. It came through on an anonymous number, and I thought it was one of my friends pretending like, “Hello, is Joseph there please? Yes, I have an audition for him.”

So I read the book, watched the first Harry Potter film, bought a Harry Potter poster and put it on my wall. I absorbed it all as much as I could. Then I went in and I got a call back but I didn’t end up getting it. It sort of set the standard for me. Like, I knew I should be doing film and television.

We’d all seen Orlando Bloom get Lord of the Rings, and shoot for stardom. So I got this audition and I was like see ya later guys! I’m off on my rocket ship to stardom.

JJ: What are the last three things you charged on your credit card?

JM: My room in Los Angeles, (laughs), where I’m staying, probably my room service, and a dog we just fostered. A new pet, a little terrier…which we call Kingston. I say fostered, he was, but now we’ve adopted him. They think he’s two-years-old, but they don’t know. They found him kind of just wandering in LA, so I’m not sure his age. We named him Kingston because we love Jamaica, and you know, we got married in Jamaica.

JJ: You found him in LA, so you’re bringing him back with you guys?

JM: Yeah. We’ve only had him about five days. He’s on best behavior at the moment.

JJ: What are the next two things that you want to check off your bucket list?

JM: Skydiving! I’ve always wanted to do that. Although, I’m a little timid about heights, but I suppose at that height, it doesn’t matter. I’m not frightened to look out the window of the plane, but I think the actual jumping moment. I heard sometimes they push you out the plane, so maybe I’ll need that, like I’ll need to be pushed out.

I do play guitar a bit, but I’m trying to learn to be really good at the time. My wife got me an electric guitar for Christmas. I’ve brought an acoustic to work, so I’m going to annoy everyone at work by playing really loudly. And hopefully eventually I’ll get good! I’m like a campfire guitarist. I learned in the 90s, so I can play all the 90s indie tunes. Like Oasis, and Blur, and all these bands. I need to update my guitar playing. I’m trying to learn serious stuff like scales and modes.

JJ: Do you teach yourself with YouTube videos?

JM: Exactly that. Yeah.

JJ: What are you singing in the shower nowadays?

JM: I sing a bit of Mumford & Sons. I like to sing like Tom Waits and do all the kind of voices and stuff. Mostly dark stuff. I sing a lot in the car. I’ve got this long drive to work — like forty five minutes. So I do a lot of testing!

JJ: Any New Year’s resolutions?

JM: Exercise more. ‘Cause you never know when the shirtless scenes are coming. (laughs) They’re coming soon, I haven’t been for a while. And the guitar thing, that’s definitely a resolution. And I’m trying to do more writing now, just trying to kind of use my time better each year, be more productive.

JJ: What app do you use on your phone the most?

JM: Aside from Twitter, which I used to use more than I do now. It’s only because I work so much now that I forget about it for a minute. But I used to be religious about it. I use Audible, I like they’re books on tape. And I’m like the last person to discover Uber. I’m telling people how great Uber is and they’re like, “Where have you been for the last like, four years?” But yeah, Uber is my new best friend.

JJ: Have you heard about the podcast called Serial?

JM: Yes! You know who told me? Phoebe, Phoebe Tonkin, who got Paul Wesley hooked on it. I just downloaded it, so I haven’t listened to any of it. I’m ready, I’m ready to go with it.

JJ: How did you make your first dollar?

JM: Working in a fruit and veg store, in Swansea Market, which is where I grew up, in Swansea, Wales. My dad got me the job, he used to go and get our fruit and veg from there and I got paid, I think 2 pounds, fifty an hour. And I basically had to lug potato sacks around and apples, and then arrange all the fruit in the store so it looked nice. That lasted about five weeks, so I must’ve made, I made twelve pounds, fifty each time, ’cause I worked for five hours. And I used all of that money to buy a keyboard from my brother, which I probably could’ve used anyway because he was my brother and it was in our house. But I wanted it to be mine and in my bedroom, so I bought it from him. And then never used it, so that was a waste of time. (laughs)

JJ: What’s the most meaningful tattoo that you have?

JM: I really like this one of the birds. But I suppose for the purpose of this question, I have a triangle on my back. I have two best friends who I’ve had since I was sixteen, and we grew up together, and we used to always refer to our friendship when we were teenagers, as the triangle. One of those guys is a good friend of mine, Leon Davis, in Wales, and the other one is Matt Ryan, who is Constantine. If you’ve seen the show Constantine, you’ll see he has the same tattoo on the other shoulder. And my mate Leon has it in the middle of his back, and I have it there. We got them together a couple of years ago in London.

JJ: Which charities do you support?

JM: charity: water, which is about bringing clean water in sanitary conditions to lots of different countries. Me and my wife just did a campaign to build wells in Ethiopia. And we just reached our goal on I think it was New Year’s Eve. We got $20,000, which is what we were going for-so awesome. And then I’m an ambassador for Positive Women as well, which is a smaller charity that I’ve worked with for years, that works with empowering women in Swaziland.

I do want to get involved in some sort of cancer charity, maybe like midland nurses. Because they helped a lot when I had a couple family members who passed away from cancer. So I want to do something there but I’m not sure yet.

JJ: You recently got married. What’s married life like? Are you still in the honeymoon period?

JM: Yeah, we’re still newlyweds ’cause you’re newlyweds for the first year I’m told. It’s terrific. We lived together before we were married, so it’s not different in that sense but it’s very different calling her my wife. And that’s still a big thrill for me.

I never really thought I would be married. Not that I was against it, my parents were married all the way up until my dad died, but I think I’ve always felt like that was something that more straight laced people do. But then I met Persia and she’s wild, interesting, passionate, fiery, and amazing. So I thought, “Alright, if it’s with her, that’s alright. I could do that.” ‘Cause it’s still kind of this, eye of the hurricane thing, which is amazing.

JJ: Do you consider her the opposite of you? Like she complements you? Or do you have a lot more things in common?

JM: We have more in common definitely. We do almost everything together. We’re pretty codependent. Recently, she came to LA before me, about three days before me, and that’s the first time we’ve been apart from each other for… way before getting married. We both paint, we have a room in our apartment where we’ve taken the carpets up and we have like painting parties. She’s also a really talented musician, so we’ve been playing a little music together. We made a short film together. She’s this kind of incredible muse for me as well. And I think I’m for her as well. We encourage and inspire each other and that’s what I’ve always really wanted. But I saw marriage as being something else but my marriage is that, which is incredible to me. It’s great. (smiles)

Fashion Credits

Photos 1, 3, and 5: Emporio Armani tuxedo, Giorgio Armani shirt, bow tie, and shoes, Brooks Brothers cuff links, and an IWC watch.

Photos 2 and 4: Hanes t-shirt, Armani jeans, and Adidas shoes.

Producer/Interview: Jared Eng (@JaredEng)
Photographer: Justin Campbell (@justincampbellphotography)
Stylist: Ashley Weston (@AshleyPWeston)
Grooming: Melissa DeZarate
Photo Assistant: Michael Oliveri (@michaeloliveri_)

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Credit: Justin Campbell for Just Jared
Posted to: Exclusive, Exclusive Photos, JJ Portrait Session, Joseph Morgan