Known for his big-screen roles in "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" and the television miniseries "North & South," actor Patrick Swayze is tapping into his adventurous side for the Hallmark Channel's "King Solomon's Mines." He plays explorer Allan Quatermain, a role that drew on his love of the great outdoors. The movie airs Saturday. Swayze and his wife, Lisa, have also made an independent movie they are promoting, called "One Last Dance."

Q. Did you grow up watching "Tarzan" and those other Saturday morning adventures?

A. Oh my Lord, I've been an adventure king since I hit the planet. I was Tarzan! My brother and I had swimsuits like loin cloths that we cut the crotch out of and we had a 5-mile network of vines and ropes through the trees, so you never had to touch the ground. When we played Tarzan, he was either Boy or Cheetah, depending on what my mood was that day. I mean, if I wasn't in this business, I could very easily disappear in the mountains on my horse with my dog.

Q. Were there any close calls when filming "King Solomon's Mines" in South Africa?

A. I took big chances, because I am a horseman and nobody could do the horse work like I could. I turned an entire stampede of wild game, driven at me by helicopters, alone on a horse with a rope. It was a little scary and it didn't even get in the movie. Fear is a part of everything you do and you learn to make it work for you. I had an experience about five years ago, where I was doing a bareback horse chase sequence. I went head first into an oak tree and the only thing that saved me was instinct. I tucked into a ball and grabbed two handfuls of his mane and flipped myself so I would break my legs on the tree instead of my head.

Q. So you stick to what you know?

A. For instance, right now my brother Don and I are in the process of asking questions about what's going on, on this planet. He has turned into an amazing actor, and I'm seriously looking for the Swayze brothers' venue. The two of us together are very intense and unpredictable.

Q. Did your mother push you into dance or was it your idea?

A. It was kind of coming out of the womb straight into a ballet class. The key thing, my mother knew the heartache and the difficulties of this business, and, for a while, she tried to discourage it. I did end up being on the gymnastics team in college. But, the arts were in my blood. I was on the stage from before I could remember, literally carried on stage as an infant. Needless to say, growing up in Texas with ballet shoes in your back pocket and a violin under your arm, I had to learn to fight real fast.

Q. You seem to have gone on a spiritual quest. How has it ended up?

A. It's been a passionate hobby of mine to research what I call reasons that people find to hang onto faith and hope. And what happens to people when you rob them of faith and hope. It's interesting that we are all screaming for the same thing. And how many more centuries can we continue killing people in the name of the Lord? As a country, we feel we have to meddle in other people's belief systems and impose our concept of democracy on someone rather than make it work for their culture by a deep understanding of that culture. We can't be cavalier about this. Especially when you play with Arabs. You are playing with a hornet's nest that goes back centuries. I want to find a way to get to issues that affect everyone on this planet. See if it's possible to get everybody aligned for one moment in time on one issue at a time. When you do that things change -- they can't help but change.

Q. You might want to run for office.

A. People have told me that, and I'm like ... I'm not dragging up my biker past. I ain't going there [laughing]. That's a national/planetary pastime. Basically it's, "Trash everything that's worth believing in." I think it's time to bring the day of passion and integrity back. I'm usually very quiet on this stuff in general. This is the first time I'm speaking out. But, I don't intend on wagging a finger and telling people they are wrong. All I intend on doing is asking questions to the people that can give us answers all over the planet. It's like finally I've grown up. I've grown into me -- who I'm supposed to be, rather than pushing too hard or running from whatever I saw the responsibility of fame was. I find in my work, as I go along, that ego destroys everything. When your ego rears its ugly head and you come from a position of "I know," your growth stops.