Charlie Lawson admits it is "highly likely" he would have joined a paramilitary group and fought in The Troubles had he not become an actor.
Charlie Lawson
The Northern Irish star admits he could well have picked up a gun to fight in the political conflict - which began in the country in the late 1960s and saw loyalist and republican paramilitary groups go head-to-head on Northern Ireland streets for 30 years - if he hadn't left his home nation to act.
The 'Coronation Street' star - who has played Jim McDonald on the ITV soap since 1989 - said: "I never took up arms.
"I suspect if I had stayed and not had the opportunities thrown at me and been unemployed staying up the Newtownards Road, I would say it probably would have been highly likely.
"I didn't meet a Catholic until I was 20 years of age - not extraordinary for the times really, when you think about it.
"But the damage we did to ourselves as human beings and the sheer cruelty and the barbarity of both sides - of what people were willing do to other people.
"It's horrendous and people don't believe it now. They are not taught about it and they should be."
Charlie has one daughter, 31-year-old former police officer Laura, but has now publicly admitted he was a "pretty hopeless dad", and has apologised to her for being so "selfish".
Speaking on 'Eamonn Mallie: Face to Face' - which airs on Northern Irish broadcaster UTV on Tuesday (15.01.19) - he added: "I was pretty hopeless as a dad. [Boarding school] made me useless with kids. I wasn't interested at all.
"My grandchildren adore me and for some reason I am good with them. But for my own daughter I can offer nothing but sincerest heartfelt apologies about the way I behaved because I was so selfish."
Charlie's confession comes after his latest 'Corrie' storyline saw Jim returned to Weatherfield with his and wife Liz McDonald's (Bev Callard) so-called daughter, only for her to turn out to be his girlfriend and the pair were revealed to be plotting to blackmail Liz out of her savings.