AceShowbiz - Colin Firth regrets taking his star-making role as Mr. Darcy in the BBC's adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" - as it led to him being typecast as a brooding hunk.

The British actor left audiences hot under the collar after emerging from a lake, dripping wet, in just a shirt and underclothes in the miniseries' most memorable scene, earning him instant heartthrob status.

However, he says the role initially had a negative impact on his career, because it meant he was restricted to dull roles that focused on his looks.

"It tended to create this image that can restrict what kind of roles you are going to be able to find," he tells Britain's Good Housekeeping magazine. "Looking good and strutting around is very boring. I wanted to do other things as an actor."

The role also helped him land a part as Mark Darcy in the "Bridget Jones" films, a modern incarnation inspired by Jane Austen's aloof but romantic hero. But he says the attention that came with those films also made him deeply uncomfortable - as he didn't like being thought of as a Hollywood star.

"I gained a lot of attention but there was a side of me that resisted all of that," he explains. "Perhaps what kept me from wanting to be a big star, to use that term, is that I just hate the way that some stars behave. There's a lot of arrogance and indulgence when it comes to some major actors."

Happily, Colin, 59, has found more rewarding roles later in his career, including an Oscar-winning turn as King George VI in 2010's "The King's Speech". The star also pinpoints his Oscar-nominated performance as a gay university professor in Tom Ford's 2009 film "A Single Man" as a turning point.

"I was playing an older, sadder kind of figure and suddenly you're seen in a different way," he adds.