Kevin Spacey wants to be a father.

The 55-year-old actor - who doesn't usually like to talk about his private life - is keen to have kids and believes he is still at an ''early'' stage of his life to become a dad for the first time.

When asked if he relates to his 'House of Cards' character Frank Underwood and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) putting their careers before kids, Kevin replied: ''Er, no. I have wanted to have children. I do want to have children. It's early.''

It is not known if Kevin is currently dating someone but one relationship he will always have is his love for London - where he has been artistic director at the Old Vic theatre since 2014, but will be stepping down from the role later this year - as he admits he finds it impossible to saying anything negative about the city.

He explained: ''I think I'll always be in both worlds [London and the theatre]. I love it here. I'm so glad I did it.

''I love this country a great deal and there's nothing I can say about it that would be negative.

''People thought I was f***ing out of my mind. Certainly in America they thought I was crazy. I don't look so crazy now.''

But Kevin doesn't share quite the same enthusiasm for watching shows such as 'House of Cards' back-to-back, admitting he is amazed that people manage to watch so many episodes of a programme in one sitting.

He added to The Times newspaper: ''I'm not a binger. I don't know how people do it. I hear people say that they stayed home all weekend and watched two seasons of the show: a) I don't have time for it, and b) I'd fall asleep.''