Reeve Carney loves watching Showtime's Penny Dreadful, just not the scenes in which he plays Dorian Gray.

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"I couldn't watch myself on the screen," Carney told KCRA on Tuesday in discussing his introduction to television when he first started out on the series. "But now I can endure it."

The musician-turned-actor explained that he's "relatively new to this game" though costar Timothy Dalton (Sir Malcolm) gave him some helpful advice when it came to watching himself perform.

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"He said, 'You can't be worried about any of the surface-level things and ultimately, you have to be looking for the truth'… That's something I learned from Tim that I will carry with me forever."

Beyond having to watch himself on screen, Carney did have one additional fear when he first signed on for John Logan's literature-inspired show: nudity.

"At first I was a little afraid to be involved," he admitted, "Not because of the horror genre -- because I've always loved that -- but just the idea of having to take my clothes off a lot. I thought, 'Wow, this is going to take a different type of courage for me.'"

Carney's nudity on the series is nothing compared to that of some of the other actors, though he is perhaps the least-seasoned actor in a leading role.

"I want to continue to take big leaps," insisted Carney of his acting career, "So people don't think that's I'm just interested in one thing. I like to stretch as much as possible."

In spite of his initial reservations, the 31-year-old has had a ball filming the Victorian supernatural drama. "I go to the set on my days off to watch them, hopefully inconspicuously," noted the actor.

He is also a big fan of the series in terms of story, which is a huge plus. "The show does a great job of making you leave your sense of reality behind when you're watching it," he explained.

Originally, Carney had never set out to become an actor. The musician sort of stumbled into it and has found that he is more interested in it than he would have ever thought.

"I really do enjoy both music and acting now," he declared. "I feel things are just beginning for me in a true sense."

Penny Dreadful returns to Showtime for a second season in 2015.

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Penny Dreadful, Showtime, Television