VANCOUVER – He could well become the best-looking character actor of his generation, and for James Marsden, that would be just fine.

Slotted as leading-man material since he entered the business in the early ’90s, Marsden has landed his fair share of meaty parts, from Cyclops in the X-Men franchise and Prince Edward in Enchanted, to a recent stand as one of the central characters in Red Machine, an action movie featuring a killer grizzly bear that recently wrapped shooting in Vancouver.

He says he enjoyed all the heavy thespian lifting, but can’t say too much about the movie that also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Thomas Jane, Piper Perabo, Adam Beach and Sott Glenn.

“It’s an action-adventure movie very much in the spirit of The Grey, with Liam Neeson,” he says of the film directed by David Hackl (Saw V). “It was fun. I like Vancouver. I’ve been there, like, five or six times. I had a house in Kitsilano when I was shooting X2. . . . Well, I rented the house, I didn’t own it.”

Marsden makes his home in Los Angeles these days, but it’s his career that he’s finally starting to own.

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Early Sunday morning, while much of South Florida sleeps off a hard workweek (and other things), about 3,000 hardy souls will be up, ready to sweat and cheer at the fifth annual Nautica South Beach Triathlon benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Some celebs expected to take on the Bob Saget-hosted challenge — half-mile swim, 19-mile bike ride and four-mile run — are local actress Josie Loren, star of Make It or Break It; Jake T. Austin, of Wizards of Waverly Place; and James Marsden, of such movies as X Men, Straw Dogs, The Box and Sex Drive. We chatted with the Oklahoma-reared actor, 38, who plays Liz Lemon’s latest love interest on 30 Rock:

How are you getting ready?

This year I haven’t had as much time as I would have liked to train, but I’ve managed to stay in OK shape over the past few months. I try to squeeze in a few runs or bikes a week. Not long, but just enough to maintain some level of fitness so I can finish without embarrassing myself.

Any special diet?

When I have more time to focus on a race I’m usually better about watching what I eat. I’ve been pretty much eating whatever I want recently, which usually leads to disappointing finishing times. I will say the good thing about training for a triathlon like this is you do feel like you can eat anything and then burn it off during your workouts.

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Maybe you have pets and wonder what they are saying but you don’t get to speak for them. James Marsden, Bette Midler and Christina Applegate got that chance in the new action adventure Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

You might have seen the original film Cats and Dogs on video or DVD. It has taken nine years and much more sophisticated computer abilities and advances in puppetry to bring us to that film’s sequel.

We were with the cast of the movie (the real Cats and Dogs) as well as the humans who speak for them recently in Beverly Hills and asked the human actors the scoop on doing voice work in a talking animal movie, personal pets and even fave childhood toys.

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