Singer Rick Springfield has played many different characters in his acting career, including Dr. Noah Drake on the TV soap opera 'General Hospital.' Yet for his latest television role, Springfield portrays someone with whom he can easily identify: himself.

Starting on Oct. 11, Springfield will be making a guest appearance on four episodes of the Showtime comedy 'Californication,' starring David Duchovny. As himself on the show, Springfield plays the client of agent Charlie Runkle, played by Evan Handler.

"They were looking for a musician who's an actor and they liked what I did," Springfield tells Spinner. "They wrote the story around my name and they make references to my past and music. It's a very different character than me -- a twisted warped version of me at my worse."

In a preview clip for the series' third season, which also features guests Kathleen Turner and 'Gossip Girl' star Ed Westwick, Springfield is wearing nothing but underwear in one scene. When it came to doing something like that, he says he didn't have any trepidation. "I knew what the show was about," he says, "and the scenes that I read to get the part was certainly as full-on as anything I do on the show. I have no issues about being naked in a show. I think being naked just makes it funnier."

The new acting role doesn't stop there for Springfield. Earlier this year, he released an album of children's lullabies entitled 'My Precious Little One' and he has played some live dates across the country. In November, he will be holding his second annual 'Rick Springfield and Friends Cruise' with special musical guest Richard Marx. During the cruise from Miami to Mexico, Springfield will be performing his 1981 breakthrough album 'Working Class Dog' in its entirety for the very first time.

"It was a great time," he recalls about the record, which contains his signature hit 'Jessie's Girl.' "It was the end of disco and people wanted to hear the guitar and short tight pop songs again. To a degree it was influenced by punk that was coming out of England. That's what I did with that album."

As previously reported in Entertainment Weekly, Springfield is also penning his memoir, which he is pitching to publishers. "I didn't think I would be able to remember anything," he says. "But once you hit on a period in your life and you start writing about it, it's amazing what you remember. I had a varied life and have been involved in a lot of things -- some of which could have put me in prison -- but luckily it didn't."

This past August, the rocker reached a personal milestone when he turned 60. He keeps up with current music whether it's Beirut, Queens of the Stone Age ("I'm a big Josh Homme fan," he says), or Tool. Springfield is also writing new material for his next record to be released sometime in 2010. "I'm still hungry," he says. "I'm as hungry today as I was when I first left high school. The desire is still there. The fact that I love doing it is the key for me."