Joe Manganiello works hard for unique physique

Actor-filmmaker Joe Manganiello says a rigorous fitness regime has helped him shape up his incredible physique.

The 37-year-old actor says that unlike many other famous faces in Hollywood, he put in a lot of hard work to look the way he does, reports contactmusic.com.

Manganiello told Men's Health magazine: "A lot of the actors who are on the cover of lifestyle magazines look like they've had their waistline airbrushed or they're wearing winter clothes or whatever.

"I see them and think, 'That guy doesn't work out, I know that guy and he smokes two packs of cigarettes a day and is a complete drunk on the weekends. Now he's putting out an illusion on the cover of a glossy magazine.'

"It's absurd to me. I'm athletic and I'm healthy. I'm like a unicorn in the world of actors."

Manganiello, who plays Alcide in "True Blood", even said that one of his biggest motivation to work out was having to spend much of stripper movie "Magic Mike" without a shirt.

"When you're shirtless every day there's no let up. So we spent a fortnight doing thousands of push-ups, thousands of curls, thousands of lat raises," he said.