Michael Sheen has lived in California for the past 14 years and enjoyed numerous gigs in Hollywood. Now the Masters of Sex star is taking an indefinite break from acting to focus on political activism in his native Wales.

As a result, Sheen has no further plans to take on new movie or TV projects any time soon.

He explained to The Times newspaper: “It will be a big change for how people relate to me. Once I’m in, I’m fully in, and this is big. As soon as you start to be effective, then people try to crush you, because it’s dangerous.”

The actor – who is currently dating Sarah Silverman – also claimed that the US presidential election drove him to make the decision.

He stated: “In the same way as the Nazis had to be stopped in Germany in the Thirties, this thing that is on the rise has to be stopped.

It’s not going to look like this in ten years’ time. Everything has shifted. The dice are being rolled again.”

Following the interview, Sheen wanted to clarify that he is not walking away from acting for good. He is simply stepping back for a while to focus on various issues at hand.

He reassured everyone by explaining: “I DID NOT declare that I’m ‘quitting acting and leaving Hollywood’ to go into politics.

In the actual original interview I said I have become more involved with community issues back at home over the last few years and because of the political situation it’s something I would like to focus on more.

The interviewer asked me what that meant for my career and I said it might mean I work less as an actor and maybe even stop for a while AT SOME POINT. But I don’t really know yet.”