Piven protects Mike Tyson

Jeremy Piven took Mike Tyson under his wing on the set of the Entourage movie.

The boxing star makes a cameo in the film, which follows on from the hit TV show that came off the air in 2011.

Jeremy is a big Mike fan and relished working with the muscle man.

"I remember doing a scene with Mike Tyson and the director didn’t quite know how to navigate him. I had the pleasure of rehearsing with him and took him under my wing. He’s the youngest heavyweight champion of the world, I love boxing and grew up watching him so it was surreal. It was an incredible experience," Jeremy, who reprises his role as Ari Gold in the movie, told the British edition of Esquire magazine.

Entourage hits cinema screens from June, with original stars Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon all back.

Other cameos come in the form of Jessica Alba, Mark Wahlberg and Billy Bob Thornton. Liam Neeson also makes an appearance.

"In the new film, there are so many people ranging from Thierry Henry to Liam Neeson, who is being incredibly self-deprecating. He was such a sweetheart. It’s so funny that he’s become this brutal action figure because he’s just the nicest guy in the world," Jeremy said.

The 49-year-old actor has been working solidly since the late 80s, and has always been a regular on American TV.

Two years ago he was cast as Harry Selfridge for British TV drama Mr Selfridge, which tells the story of the eccentric businessman who founded famous London department store Selfridges.

"I think that I’ve gotten better as an actor with the cast of Mr Selfridge. It’s made me raise my game so much that when I went back and did the Entourage movie, I think Ari was firing on even more cylinders than usual," he revealed.

Entourage is released June 19th UK.