Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross in "Revenge."

Nolan Ross might be the most quirky character on TV today.

"I didn't necessarily set out to make him that way," said actor Gabriel Mann, who plays Nolan Ross on Revenge. The sophomore primetime soap opera airs Sundays on ABC and Citytv.

"But with the idea of signing on to a television show, on a series that potentially could (exist for many years), there had to be something interesting to play," Mann continued. "I would have been bored out of my mind.

"So I tried to create something that wouldn't have too many boundaries. It could go in any direction, and I'm very thankful to ABC and (Revenge creator) Mike Kelley for letting me bring that kind of character to television."

Set in the ultra-rich, high-society world of the Hamptons, Revenge stars Canadian Emily VanCamp as Emily Thorne (real name Amanda Clarke), a woman with an assumed identity who is seeking exactly what the title of the series suggests.

Nolan is a self-made multi-millionaire in the computer-software business and one of Emily's few true confidants. Too bad she isn't nicer to him on a day-to-day basis, often treating him like nothing more than a high-tech errand boy.

"I hope so," Mann said with a laugh, when asked if Emily ever is going to stop taking Nolan for granted.

"I can't imagine things will change too drastically. But I did get a hug in the finale last year. I'm hoping to expand on that slightly."

Mann's lengthy film resume include roles in The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Identity and The Life of David Gale. On TV, notably, he appeared in four episodes of AMC's Mad Men in 2008, playing equestrian Arthur Case, a fleeting love interest for Betty Draper (January Jones).

"This is not like anything I've done prior," Mann said of the Nolan role. "And no one ever was asking me to play a character like this before.

"Maybe they don't happen very often, period. So I jumped at the chance."

Nolan is an oddball who seems to have everything, but he has trouble connecting with others in a genuine way.

"Being a little too smart for his own good certainly doesn't help, because he tends to over-think things," Mann said. "It distances him from others. He's too rich and too smart for his own good."

Just like you, right Gabriel Mann?

"Too rich and too smart? Is there such a thing?" Mann said.

"No, as myself I can live very simply. I wouldn't love to go back to a diet of ramen noodles again, but if I had to, I could.

"So I don't know what it would feel like to be Nolan and to live in that world. But with Revenge I'm getting a taste of it, and I'm thinking, 'I'm fine, I'm good.' "