PASADENA, Calif. — The first rule for actors in Hollywood is to stay visible at all times. But for Skeet Ulrich, that was the first rule to break.

The actor was riding high with films like "Scream," "Newton Boys" and "As Good As It Gets," when his then-wife was expecting twins.

"I remember doing Ang Lee's movie ("Ride With the Devil") and people would come to the set and do interviews. And I told people I would do six more movies, and that would be it. I thought that might be the case. I had a leaning toward doing that and building furniture. And I bought a farm in Virginia and was living on it at that time," says Ulrich, in an alcove of a bustling hotel here, seated on a brocade Queen Anne chair.

"Then I took almost two years off when the kids were born. And I missed it so bad. I had no idea I would. There was just a void. I was getting so bottled up. I didn't have that form of expression that eased it a little bit for me ... I was doing really well, probably the best I've ever done. I was getting offered lots of good stuff, working with lots of good directors in good films and was just willing to toss it all away."

He planned his escape carefully. "Knowing I was going to take time off when the kids were born, I did two really bad movies for money to sort of make my nest egg comfortable so I could take time off, which I didn't know it would necessarily be time off. I thought it would be forever-off."

It turned out it couldn't be forever-off when Ulrich remembered the moment he first knew he needed to be an actor.

"I started out building sets and watching what they did. I remember I built the set for 'Curse of the Starving Class' in Wilmington, N.C., and closing night we had to strike the set. And I was the last one there. And I walked out onto the apron of the stage, it was a big proscenium-arch theater. I stood on the stage, and it just hit me. I knew right then they would have to listen to me," he nods.

"It did kind of happen in a moment. I was 18, a marine biology major. And it (theater) wasn't even a minor. I just took one setdesign class. That was almost the end of the semester. I went to the theater department and found classes."

After two years of rusticating on his farm with his twins, he realized how crucial acting was to his life. "I think it was such a huge lesson for me to kind of re-grasp what I felt when I was standing on that stage that many years ago and knowing I HAD to do it. There wasn't a choice. It was a big lesson and I felt when I came back that I was able to be much more real to some extent. I read those old interviews, and I just cringe sometimes. I know everybody grows up and hopefully grows wiser, but God," he grimaces.

Ulrich, 36, is back, this time for good. He's starring in CBS' thrilling new series, "Jericho," premiering tonight.

Ulrich plays the mayor's wastrel son in a small town in Kansas. Suddenly an unexplained mushroom cloud menaces the horizon, severs the power and throws the citizens into blind panic. What happens to the people in this crisis is the heart of the drama. And what Ulrich does with his character's catastrophe is both believable and inspiring.

Plunging back into the Hollywood swim hasn't been easy, he admits. He feels his exit was ill-advised. "Some people had a bitter taste in their mouths about the way it was done, especially the press side of it. When I'm supposed to be promoting films and I'm saying, 'I'm not going to do any more films.' So I think I got what I deserved to some extent, in the film side. Now I don't notice it so much. Plus I have kids. I can't exactly disappear on location anymore. This is the best world for me."