TORONTO (CP) - Chris Jericho, former king of World Wrestling Entertainment who once defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night, is facing one of his toughest battles yet - making it in the acting world.

The 35-year-old, who was born Chris Irvine in Winnipeg, left the WWE as the first-ever undisputed champion in August 2005 due to physical and mental burnout.

Jericho is now pursuing a career as an actor - he makes his stage debut this week in Toronto - but with his muscular physique and former tough-guy image, the two-time world champion admits he's been typecast a lot and diverse jobs have been slow in coming.

"I audition for a lot of things," Jericho says in an interview in a Toronto hotel lobby, his voice notably softer than that of his long-haired, intimidating wrestling character who once titled himself the Man of 1004 Holds.

"Last year I actually called it, The Summer of Movies That Chris Auditioned for but Didn't Get the Part."

The fame drought doesn't bother Jericho. In fact, he's come to expect it.

After all, he had to go through the same thing when he started wrestling at the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling at age 19.

"I travelled everywhere around the world wrestling before I finally did get to the WWE," says Jericho, who pinned burly opponents in a Winnipeg bar before doing professional matches in Japan, Mexico, Europe and later with World Champion Wrestling.

"That's why I became so successful at it, because I had such respect for what the business was."

Jericho is in the Norm Foster comedy Opening Night running July 20-22 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. He plays lead character Jack Tisdale, a middle-aged varnish salesman celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary with a night at the theatre with his wife Ruth.

Jericho says the role will expand his acting repertoire and prove that he can be more than just a screaming hulk who breaks chairs over opponents' backs and jumps off the top ropes.

"I like it when expectations are low," says Jericho, who has been taking improv comedy classes at the Groundlings School in Hollywood where Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Jon Lovitz and Paul Reubens, among others, once studied.

"If people are expecting you to be the next Philip Seymour Hoffman, well then there might be a few problems, but luckily because I'm just a lowly wrestler, people don't really expect that, which is cool."

Jericho's other acting gigs have included a part as an ill-fated android in the Sci Fi Channel film Android Apocalypse and appearances on VH-1 and the E Networks.

He also has his own show on XM satellite radio called The Rock of Jericho and a rock band called Fozzy, which released its third CD, All That Remains, in 2005 on Jericho's own record label, Ash Records.

Jericho says wrestling has prepped him well for a life on camera and stage.

"Wrestling is show business boot camp," says Jericho, the only performer to have held six different titles in the WWE.

"You learn how to deliver lines, you learn how to be in front of a live audience, you learn to improv, you learn how to cover mistakes ... I've been acting for 15 years, people just don't really realize that."

Jericho has no grand illusions about "becoming the lead in Mission Impossible 3" and says he'll take just about any role he can get - save for one.

"I've been getting a lot of offers for playing a wrestler. I'm not interested in that because that's kind of cliched. People would expect that," says Jericho, who has homes with his wife and 2 1/2-year-old son in Tampa and Los Angeles.

Jericho - whose father, Ted Irvine, was an NHL hockey player and Winnipeg Jets radio commentator - has also signed a deal with Warner Brothers Publishing to write his memoirs.

He says he'll focus on a portion of his life, from 1990 to 1999, just before he made his WWE debut.

"My whole goal was to make it in the WWE," he says. "So that's what this book will be, following my pursuits to do that."

As for wrestling, Jericho says he has no plans to return to the ring, but won't say he's leaving the sport entirely.

"I never use the word retirement because everybody always retires and then comes back, so I never want to actually say that," he says.

"If everything comes to a screeching halt and I'm out on the street wiping your windows down when you stop at a red light, then maybe I'll start thinking about going back to wrestling."

On the Net:

www.chrisjericho.com