METRO-SEXUAL: 'Smash': Jaime Cepero says Ellis isn't necessarily gay!

Actor Jaime Cepero plays sneaky Ellis, the character everyone hates, on NBC's musical show "Smash," but thankfully for him, fans haven't carried over that hatred of his character into hating him as a person -- yet.

"Everybody's been really friendly to me," he tells Zap2it. "People say, 'I really hate your character on the show' ... it worries me a little bit. I don't want people to think I'm actually this person."

So does he have anything in common with his conniving character?
"I admire his ambition," Cepero says. "I'm a pretty ambitious person myself -- not as blindly as he is. If I had as much ambition as this character does, I'd probably be in a very different spot. I do like the way he dresses. I guess maybe there's some similarly there."

Cepero wants to channel his own ambition into feature films, music and even Broadway someday.

He also wants to put a rumor about Ellis to rest. In an attempt to get a co-producing credit for the Marilyn Monroe musical "Bombshell," Ellis slept with Rebecca Duvall's (Uma Thurman) male manager to woo Duvall to the stage, but that doesn't mean Ellis is gay, Cepero says.

"As soon as that happened, people assume he's gay," Cepero says. "I think if you really watch that episode, it's very clear why he's doing what he's doing. He's not trying to take this guy out on a date. He's very calculated -- it stems from that blind ambition."