Adrian Grenier is leading the "Surreal Life"

ADRIAN Grenier says his life has taken a surreal turn of late.

As Vinnie Chase in the cult hit TV series Entourage, Grenier plays an actor living the Hollywood dream, with his career on the rise, legions of fans and paparazzi following his every move.

In the real world, his life is starting to look pretty similar.

Since the success of Entourage and a role in The Devil Wears Prada, opposite Anne Hathaway, Grenier, 31, has found himself one of the hottest up-and-coming actors in Hollywood, and has even been linked to Paris Hilton.

For a serious actor more concerned with his performances on screen than the headlines, it's all a bit amusing.

"It was strange," Grenier said of his supposed romance with Hilton. "I was with her because I'm filming a documentary on fame and suddenly we're an item? Not true at all."

It was society's obsession with fame that first drew him to Chase, a character who shows what it is like to live in the artificial world that Hollywood can be for the successful.

Entourage is produced by actor Mark Wahlberg, whose own life and associates reportedly provided inspiration for the Emmy Award-winning series. "It's about living a very grand lifestyle. It's about consuming things and being rich," said Grenier, who has been nightclubbing in Sydney this week between filming promos for Foxtel's Arena channel.

"There's the girls, of course. But it's really more about the friendship and the loyalty, and I think we all crave that. It's an uplifting show.

"Ultimately [it] reflects part of our culture, which is what art should do, and I think it's actually a rather deep show, if you can get beyond all the glitz and the glamour, the sex and the celebrity. It says a lot about our culture."