'I want to be a bad guy'

The Irish star told This is London: "I'd love to get into acting if the right role comes along and I really admire Tom Cruise so it would be great to star alongside him.

"I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Mission Impossible 3 was fantastic so it would be great to play a baddie like that."

But with the launch of a new album and a duet with US folk singer Kate Rusby, Ronan's fans will be glad to hear he isn't hanging up his microphone just yet.

"The new single is a big ballad so it's very much a Ronan song," he says. "Working with Kate Rubsy was great and Jamie Cullen plays on the album too. I'd like to work with Bono or Mary J Blige if I got the chance."

Three artists Ronan definitely won't be working again in the near future are his former Boyzone bandmates. He quashed rumours of Take That-style reunion, saying: "It's not that I don't want there to be a reunion, I just can't see it happening. I'm concentrating on my solo career at the moment and on spending time with my family."

Ronan did, however, find time to fit in a bit of modelling recently. He posed naked with just a pint of Guinness to hide his blushes for Cosmopolitan's male centrefolds section.

He said: "I was nervous about the shoot but it was in aid of prostate cancer so I said yeah, I'll do it. They asked me what I wanted do so I said, 'give me a pint of Guinness and let's have some fun.' I think it's a very funny shot."

And it looks like there'll be no trips to court for the star, despite recent headlines to the contrary. Ronan was caught up in a fracas at Heathrow airport when rapper Snoop Dogg was refused entry to the first class lounge.

The hip-hop star and five members of his entourage were arrested for violent disorder and affray and newspapers reported that Ronan could be called to give evidence.

But the singer says he wouldn't be much of a witness. "I was in the lounge but I didn't see anything," he says. "The security guards kept us away from all the action."

Ronan Keating's new album Bring You Home is released on 5 June 2006