Actor Billy Zane has his sister to thank for his new side career as an artist because she invited a gallery owner to check out his work without his knowledge.

The 47-year-old star picked up a brush while filming romantic disaster epic Titanic in Mexico in 1997 and realised he had a passion for painting, but Zane never imagined having his work put on display until his singer/actress sibling, Lisa, took it upon herself to help him land his first exhibit.

He is now launching his first solo art show in London and Zane is flattered to have been welcomed into the art community with open arms.

He tells the Bbc, "I found this particular expression actually through cinema. I spend so much time on location and there's so much down time... This passion for it really took hold.

"I turned the garage into a studio and started doing what they've call action painting; it's abstract expressionism. I paint on the floor.

"I was just doing it for myself really, and in 2010, my sister had brought a gallerist to my home, when I was away, and I suddenly realised I had a show and I wasn't expecting it. And it had been received as legitimate, which is all you can really ask for."

Billy Zane: Seize the Day Bed opens at the Rook & Raven Gallery on Friday (11Oct13), and runs until 7 November (13).