Stephen Moyer ( born Stephen John Emery ; 11 October 1969 ) is an English film and television actor and director who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series True Blood . Moyer 's first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV adaptation of the play Conjugal Rites , written by actor/playwright Roger Hall . This was followed by the television film Lord of Misrule , filmed in Fowey , Cornwall , which also featured Richard Wilson , Emily Mortimer and Prunella Scales . In 1997 , Moyer made his big-screen debut landing the lead role in the film adaptation of the long-running comic strip Prince Valiant by Hal Foster , working alongside Ron Perlman and Katherine Heigl .
Stephen Moyer refused to ever act in anything.