WHEN the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, Jamie Dornan was in New York, about to shoot a new TV series. But as production shut down on “Dr. Death,” the 37-year-old actor flew back to his home in England, where he’s been in self-isolation with his wife and three children.

Dornan, the star of the “Fifty Shades” franchise, recently joined Instagram, posting a funny video with his face covered in blue paint for an upcoming role — a leap for a normally private person. This week, he’s been getting ready for the release of his latest film, “Endings, Beginnings,” a drama directed by Drake Doremus, which debuted at last fall’s Toronto Film Festival.

In the movie, Dornan plays an Irish writer smitten by a woman (Shailene Woodley) that both he and his best friend (Sebastian Stan) meet at a party. “Endings, Beginnings” is now available in homes on digital.

Since starring as Christian Grey in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Dornan has zig-zagged as an actor, choosing character parts in independent movies such as “Anthropoid” and “A Private War.” And he’s psyched about his first major comedic turn in “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” a comedy written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.

“I think I have a stronger sense of what’s not right for me. And one thing with this job is to challenge myself and one thing is to keep a very large element of variety. I just wouldn’t — and I’m not trying to discredit anyone who’s in this world — but I just couldn’t be an actor who does action film after action film or, indeed, who does comedy after comedy,” Dornan said in an interview with Variety.

“My whole thing of being an actor is that we get to embody all these different worlds, and that’s what excites me. And I think I’ve been lucky in everything post-‘Fifty Shades.’ There’s a lot in the market of the US$5 million to US$15 million budget movie. And I personally believe that’s where the best scripts are.”(SD-Agencies)