Playing a stripper in a Netflix Christmas movie made Chad Michael Murray fall in love with dance

Chad Michael Murray is currently deep in thought. With his index finger pressed firmly against his chiseled jawline, he tries to determine exactly how many times he’s shirtless in “The merry gentlemen.” He can’t figure it out—it’s at least nine by my count—but he’s sure it must be a game.

“Every time Chad loses his shirt, have a sip of wine, beer or eat a cookie,” he laughs at Zoom, one hand brushing his golden strands behind his ear.

Sitting behind a desk at the Plaza Hotel here, Murray – now stiffening slightly with a touch of gray – is still almost identical to his former alter-egos, as the charming protagonist Lucas Scott in “One Tree Hill” and Chilton bad-boy Tristan Dugray in “Gilmore Girls”. Now, 43, he has a bit of a rugged edge — something that serves him well in his latest role in the “Magic Mike”-meets-mistletoe film “The Merry Gentlemen.”

In the Netflix film, premiering Wednesday, a dancer named Ashley (Britt Robertson) returns to her hometown and tries to save her parents’ nightclub by starting a holiday-themed all-male revue. Murray plays Luke, a contractor turned entertainer who serves as Ashley’s romantic interest.

“When you say Christmas, the first thing you typically think of is not strippers,” he says.

Murray wasn’t worried about baring his abs for the film – it was the dancing that scared him. He admits he may have even “watched” “Magic Mike” to prepare for it. “It’s not because I don’t dance,” he clarifies, “I do, but at home and at weddings.”

But for the role of Luke, he received an accelerated education. For six hours a day, up to four days a week, Murray worked his way through country western, hip hop and jazz. Dancing 12 hours a day, half-naked in front of a crew, was an unexpected “dopamine hit” for him. But no one is more surprised than Murray that he fell in love with dance.

When it came to “The Merry Gentlemen,” it was no coincidence that Murray’s character was named Luke, a name shared by several of his previous characters, including in “Mother of the Bride” earlier this year. “When we came to the table about this one, I think his name was Bob or something, and he didn’t feel like a Bob,” he says. He gave three names – one was Luke. Along the way, Murray, who is a practicing Christian, discovered that the name Luke means “light”.

“It just felt weird,” he says with a gravelly lilt. “It’s one of my main goals as an actor, to bring light to people’s lives, enjoyment and entertainment, a departure, an escape from the mundane realities of everyday life.”

That desire for escapism has been Murray’s driving force since childhood. The actor grew up in Buffalo, NY, with five siblings and was largely raised by his father. He says the family lived paycheck to paycheck or “sometimes worse.” For Murray and his siblings, television became an escape.

“When I was 6, 7, 8 years old, I used to dress up as Jim Kelly from the Buffalo Bills during halftime,” he recalls. “I’d dress up in my old Buff helmet and my Jim Kelly jersey and I’d commentate like I was doing a mid-game interview.” This piqued his interest in television and film.

At the age of 15, Murray was hospitalized for more than two months after his intestines twisted and he required an emergency resection that resulted in postoperative internal bleeding. While recovering, he realized what he wanted with his life. His nurse, who was a model, suggested that he should start modeling. However, Murray wanted to be an actor.

“She said, ‘Well, you can come up with acting (starting as a) model. You can do this. You get out of this bed. I’m going to set you up as soon as you get out of here,'” ” he says, pausing for a moment, “And she kept her word.”

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Murray says that moment changed everything. When he was 18, he attended a modeling convention, met an agent who encouraged him to move to Los Angeles, and began modeling for brands such as Skechers, Tommy Hilfiger and Gucci.

In 2000, he had a recurring role on “Gilmore Girls” as Tristan – until his character was sent to military school in North Carolina during season 2. “They had asked me to stay and become a permanent man at the end of season 1 , and I was young and I wanted the opportunity to have my own thing,” says Murray. Soon after, he landed a recurring role on “Dawson’s Creek” as womanizer Charlie Todd, who dates Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams).

Three years after his first stint at the WB, he landed the lead role of Lucas Scott in the soapy teen drama “One Tree Hill.” During his time on the show, he married co-star Sophia Bush, but the couple divorced after just five months in 2006. While starring in “One Tree Hill,” he landed two other pivotal roles — as Jake, the motorcycle-riding, Britney Spears singing crush of Lindsay Lohan’s Anna on “Cool Friday” and as star quarterback Austin Ames in “A Cinderella story,” opposite Hilary Duff.

As Murray recalls, he was responsible for a crucial plot change in “A Cinderella Story” involving Austin’s football team, the North Valley Frogs. “They were going to lose, and I didn’t want that, so I said, ‘Guys, look, he’s a stand-up person. And I understand that he’s in love, (but) he wanted to give the ball to his best friend, Jake,” he says.

These roles catapulted Murray to stardom, a heartthrob with a capital H. He became a tabloid staple and every teenage girl’s crush with his winning smile, bad-boy charm and tattoos. But Murray admits he didn’t handle the limelight well.

“There’s no playbook,” he says, “or at least there wasn’t back then.” Murray adds that he didn’t know how to say “no” in a healthy way and that he was burning the candle at both ends. The biggest lesson he learned: “What will Chad do?” he cackles dryly before cutting himself off. “Yes, I just spoke in the third person about my former self.”

Today, he doesn’t necessarily want the limelight. Murray, who shares three children – a son and two daughters – with his wife, actress Sarah Roemer, has different priorities now. “I want to be a dad but still work and service everyone else and help people put on a great show so everyone else can be happy,” he says.

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That’s partly what drew him to holiday movies like “The Merry Gentlemen” and Hallmark’s “Write Before Christmas,” “Love in Winterland” and “Road to Christmas.” Murray is hyper-aware of the roles he chooses and how they might affect his family.

“You kind of have to think about what’s going to happen if you make movie A versus movie B, and what your kids are going to go through,” he says, adding that it’s something he and his wife always discuss in details. Wherever he or his wife are filming, they travel in a pack. (“They’re here in New York with me right now,” he says.)

His current role in the TV drama “Sullivan’s Crossing”, was quite literally the answer to two years of prayers. “I wanted a show where I wasn’t No. 1 on the call sheet,” he says of the Canadian show, which airs on the CW in the US. Now he can coach his son’s soccer team, take his daughter to dance and his children to school. And for five months of the year, his family is happily settled in Halifax, Canada, where the series films.

Next year, Murray will be seen reprising his character from “Freaky Friday” in the film’s sequel, “Freakier Friday.” Returning to the role, Murray asked himself: “How the hell would Jake be?” Despite a certain curiosity, he is upset with his character’s place in the narrative and instead emphasizes how much time has passed between the films. “We’ve had a lifetime in between,” he says. “We have children and grandchildren. Jamie (Lee Curtis) won an Oscar.”

But will he dust off his vocal chops for another pop cover like in the first film? He does not rule it out. “We’ll see,” he says. The moment Jake sings a off-key version of “…Baby One More Time” is “burned into my frontal cortex,” he says. The scene was the brainchild of director Mark Waters, who wanted Murray to create his own version of John Cusack’s boombox scene in “Say Anything.”

Another project from his past is in the air. A reboot of “One Tree Hill” is allegedly underway from series alums Bush, Hilarie Burton and Danneel Ackles. When Murray heard the news, he spoke to James Lafferty, who played his on-screen half-brother, Nathan Scott, on the show. “We don’t do it because no one has ever picked up the phone and said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this,’ so we don’t,” he says.

But he says they both agreed it was good to bring “One Tree Hill” back. “I want it for the fans,” he says. As if on cue, Lafferty writes to Murray as we discuss the subject. “Speak of the devil,” he laughs, flashing his iPhone screen at the computer camera for me to see.

But Murray isn’t too worried about what projects he may or may not do next. He considers himself a laissez-faire guy who believes in the butterfly effect, and with the career path he’s helped, he’s been able to star in his most fulfilling role – father. And when his kids are older, he might start taking on different parts—perhaps a psychological thriller or an indie film. But if someone approached him to play opposite Meryl Streep right now, he would jump at the opportunity. “I would potentially pee down my leg,” he laughs.

For now, his future is a blur – and that’s okay with him.

“I really feel like I’m just getting started,” says Murray.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.