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Donny Alamsyah puts his hand on his chin during a recent interview in Wijaya, South Jakarta, and searches for an answer to the question of why he became an actor.

Dressed in a blue V-neck and cargo pants and sitting on the couch of the office of his management, Alamsyah recollects a childhood memory: When he was in his early teens he was out walking with his two younger sisters when a group of guys tried to mug them. Not only did they ask for money, but they also threatened his sisters with broken bottles.

Driven by the urge to protect his sisters, Alamsyah confronted the men. Luckily, his elder brother saw what was happening and called frantically for help from friends in the neighborhood, which scared the thugs off.

“Maybe I was young and wasn’t thinking straight,” he says. “But I did think to myself, ‘I’ll die if I have to.’ ”

Today, Alamsyah, 31, is often cast to play out acts of valor on the big screen.

“Most of my characters are fighters, who fight to defend something they believe in . . . someone they love,” he says.

Alamsyah recently starred as Tomas in Yadi Sugandi’s “Merah Putih,” the first film in a planned “Merdeka” (“Freedom”) trilogy.

“Merah Putih” follows a group of young Indonesian soldiers defending their country against the Dutch in 1947.

In the film, Tomas, a farmer from Manado, enlists to avenge the sadistic murders of his family by the Dutch.

“Tomas first joined the Army to avenge the dead,” Alamsyah says, “but then he realized he was fighting for a greater cause, sacrificing his life for the country.”

Merah Putih “is not just an action movie,” he said. “It shows the human side of war — how soldiers are sacrificing their lives for their countries.”

In Rudy Soedjarwo’s “9 Naga” (“9 Dragons”) — the film credited with establishing Alamsyah’s movie career — he played one of three hired killers.

He said that his character, who is also named Donny, wanted to escape from the underworld because he didn’t want the same terrible fate to befall his kid brother.

“My character kills people for a living, but, at the same time, he’s struggling to find a way to see to it that his younger brother doesn’t follow in his footsteps,” Alamsyah says. “That’s a huge sacrifice.”

In 2006, Alamsyah starred in the Muay Thai action film “Sang Dewi” (“The Goddess”) as a street fighter looking out for his best friend.

“He’s willing to be beaten up just so that his best friend can have a better life,” he says.

Alamsyah shines in action hero roles, not just for the characters, but for his strong physical presence.

As fellow actor Lukman Sardi puts it: “When you think of Alamsyah, you think of action.”

The actor deftly handles a gun, lands punches and delivers Muay Thai kicks in the movies, yet he follows only a basic exercise routine: consisting of working the main muscle groups at home once every two days for 30 minutes and running on the treadmill twice a week — when he has time.

But despite his popularity, Alamsyah says he just kind of fell into acting. Previously he was a graphic designer specializing in Web sites and company profiles.

“The closest thing I had [to acting classes] was that I really liked watching movies,” he says.

In 2004, Alamsyah and some friends auditioned for “Gie,” a biographical film about Indonesian student activist Soe Hoek Gie.

Alamsyah says he auditioned just for fun, but the try-out started him thinking about acting as a career.

This year, aside from “Merah Putih,” Alamsyah also featured in Gareth Evan’s martial arts movie “Merantau,” which was inspired by a West Sumatran rite of passage.

Alamsyah’s co-stars say he is a particular pleasure to work with.

Lukman, who shared the screen with him in “Gie”, “9 Naga” and “Merah Putih,” says Alamsyah creates a rich palate of stories and traits for each of his characters.

“He delves deeply in the psyche of his characters,” Lukman says. “He explores and observes.”

To perfect his role as a Christain Manadonese solider in “Merah Putih,” Lukman says Alamsyah used method acting, putting on a thick Manado accent both on and off set.

“[And] Alamsyah, who’s Muslim, even bought a cross pendant just so that he could get into the role of a Christian soldier,” Lukman says.

Yadi Sugandi, the director of the film, says Alamsyah’s main strength as an actor is his ability to harness his emotions for maximum effect.

“He knows how to control a character’s emotion — when to go to 50 percent, to 70 percent and to 100 percent,” Yadi says.

Alamsyah’s versatility is what makes him stand out from other Indonesian actors, comments Vivi, 23, who has seen three of Alamsyah’s movies.

“In ‘Merah Putih’ he played a man from Manado, and he was really in character, from his accent to his facial expressions,” she says.

“And then, in ‘Merantau,’ [‘Pilgrim’] he played a man from Padang, West Sumatra, and he was a believable in that too.”

For Alamsyah, playing different characters in different situations is what makes acting interesting.

“I really like to explore the characters I play,” he says.

“Acting is not about bringing the character into myself, but about imagining what I would do if I were facing a similar condition to my character’s,” Alamsyah says.

“It’s like experiencing a different life, like living in so many worlds.”