MARC Bannerman, who is best known for his role of Gianni di Marco in EastEnders, could easily have ended up in the boxing ring instead of being a heart-throb in a top soap.

The son of a truck driver grew up in Finsbury Park in North London and spent most of his childhood down the local boxing club which was run by the Federation of British Boys Clubs.

He even became a schoolboy champion.

The love of putting on the boxing gloves hasn't left Marc and these days he can still often be found in the gym.

"I went up to 17 stone when I was on EastEnders. Now I've got an ex-commonwealth boxing champion training me four times a week to keep in shape. I love smashing the bag. It gets rid of all my tension."

At the moment tension is running high as he has taken on his first theatrical role in Richard Harris's play, In Two Minds, at the Theatre Royal, Windsor.

The last time Marc, 27, trod the boards was when he was at drama school four years ago.

"That was my only real experience of the theatre. It is completely different to TV."

In the murder mystery he puts on a posh voice, taking on the role of a young man who has married for the second time.

He and his new wife have just moved into a new home and the play is about their fraught relationship with their next door neighbour, Colonel Hewitt.

"Basically it is about how one person's arrogance or character can strip a relationship. My character is challenged physically and mentally."

The Theatre Royal was not somewhere Marc ever envisaged he'd be when growing up in Finsbury Park.

"It is a whole different way of life. I had no real guidance from my family because they didn't know about this business. They had no understanding of further education and a career goal.

"I was expelled a lot from school because I didn't have an academic attitude and I was a bit rebellious. My personal life was a bit up and down as well.

"It was the usual thing, my mum and dad were divorced, so I wasn't interested in lessons because too many things were going on in my personal life and they were far more important than 1066 and King Henry VIII.

"But when I was 17 I went back to do my GCSEs and I did drama. I thought it would be an easy subject and then I went on and did my A levels."

Although his father knew very little about theatre and acting, he helped Marc to get into drama school.

"I had split up with my girlfriend. At 19 it is devastating when you lose your love. I went on holiday with the lads and when I came back my dad had cut out a newspaper advertisement for a drama school."

Marc went along to the audition, but he didn't even have a drama piece prepared for it.

So he returned the following week with his prepared piece and won a scholarship.

Landing the role of the handsome, passionate son of the Italian di Marco family brought Marc fame and fortune.

"It gave me a lot of money to play with and it kind of invaded my privacy. Basically it is all-encompassing. It takes up your whole life."

It was quite devastating to him when the producers at EastEnders decided to write the di Marco family out of the storylines.

"I was upset at the time. It was a bit of a shock because I had a contract, but it is nice to move on."

Since EastEnders he has starred in Time Gentlemen Please and The Grimleys.

EastEnders didn't only kick-start his career to greater heights, he also found love on the set.

Marc met Nadia Swahala in Albert Square and they have been partners ever since.

"It happened before we became lovers in the show. It happened on the first day we met each other."

The couple live not far from where Marc grew up in Alexander Palace.

"The family are just down the road, we are just a bit higher up."

Although they have been going out for some time, there are no plans for wedding bells just yet, Marc insists.

When Marc isn't in front of the camera or treading the boards, he likes getting on his motorbike, a CBR 600, or getting into his sports car, an MG Roadster.

"I love riding motorbikes and I love driving fast cars. My MG Roadster is the same age as me. I like classic cars. My step-dad liked them, he died two years ago and I have carried on his passion for old vehicles."

When Marc ends his tour of In Two Minds he will be back on TV playing a boxing promoter in a film with Ray Winston.

"It's just great for me."

In Two Minds is at Theatre Royal Windsor until June 23, telephone the box office 01753 853888