If there’s one Hollywood celebrity to look up to, admire and emulate it has to be Patrick Swayze. Not only does he have one of the longest, happiest marriages in the movie business and a successful acting career that spans several decades but it would appear he also has an incredible ability to keep his health on track even after being diagnosed earlier this year with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze arrived with his wife Lisa Niemi, in Chicago this week for the start of filming of the new A&E series The Beast. Swayze has landed the role of an unorthodox FBI agent who becomes the target of an internal affairs investigation.

Patrick stated, “I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multilayered, unpredictable and downright entertaining, as well as a project this current and cutting edge’.

Although still receiving treatment for his cancer, chemotherapy, not radiation, at the Stanford University Medical Center, Patrick spoke of his fight against the disease saying, “I’m a miracle dude, but I don’t know why.”

Swayze is expected to continue receiving treatment while filming. The series is set to debut in early 2009.

ABB