Fast & Furious star Paul Walker has proved he is a real-life action hero by surfing 15ft waves and tagging sharks in his spare time.

On screen, the 36-year-old actor gives white-knuckle performances, but when he is not working he likes to take risks.

He said: 'The more you're under fire, the cooler you are".

'Fifteen feet is now where I draw the line. But 15 feet is big – you're on the edge and the water is only six or seven feet deep until it's jagged coral.

'It's inevitable: I always get cut on my feet, on my arms, and on my hands. It's like hitting concrete.'

Walker also revealed that he sometimes works as a deckhand on the National Geographic Channel's reality show about sharks, Hooked: Great White, and thrives on the challenge of tagging sharks.

He said: 'Everything is happening so fast that you become really dialled in [sic] and focused. It isn't until you let the shark go that you look at each other and say, 'Holy s***, what did we just do?''

Work commitments mean that Walker will have to forego frolicking with the sharks for now, but in the meantime he revealed that is embarking on a new project – building a house in the Indonesian jungle, where he lives a Robinson Crusoe-type existence.

He said: 'I don't have electricity. I use candlelight. I cook over an open fire, the traditional way. I harvest my rice… I dive for lobster and octopus.

'If I did that year round, the novelty would wear off, but to come here for a couple, three weeks at a time, it's perfect.'