The Mentalist star Simon: 'I know time is ticking'

The star of Five's The Mentalist, Simon Baker, is brutally honest with himself about his movie star looks.

"It doesn't bother me because I know time is ticking," the 41-year-old told tvguide.com. "I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and I'm able to see myself age on film. Eventually I know what I'm going to become — I've seen my father."

The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller was initially won over by Simon's looks, but his mind was made up by his physical presence.

"What Jane does is get in people's physical space and inside their heads, and in order to do that, you have to be someone that people want to be close to, whether they know it or not," said Heller. "It needed a very magnetic personality playing the part.

"Simon has a physical and mental grace. He's always switched on — he's always alert, always alive," he continued.

"If you watch him working on a stage, he's never just going through the lines. He's always looking for the extra grace notes. It's actually a much tougher job. Very few actors can do the hard physical work that must be done on a show like this."

*The Mentalist returns to Five on Friday, October 15 at 9pm