Liev Schreiber stars in “Ray Donovan”

Having car problems? Take it to a mechanic! Leaky pipe underneath your sink? Call a plumber! Television reception coming off a bit fuzzy? Call the cable guy! Things break all the time. For those of us who aren't fixers, most of our problems can be remedied simply by picking up the phone and making a request. For Hollywood's rich and famous, they pick up the phone and dial one man whose job it is to fix ... bigger problems. Catch a new episode of the hit crime drama "Ray Donovan," airing Sunday, July 26, on Showtime.

If Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," 2009) shows up at your door, it'll go one of two ways. Either all of your past problems, headaches and sleepless nights will be fixed for a lump sum of cash with no strings attached or you'll find yourself being put to bed in a cozy spot, roughly six feet under the ground. Stemming from his days as a ruthless Boston thug, violence and the allure of money and material rewards saw him relocate west to become Hollywood's No. 1 fixer -- anything from a hired kill to arranging bribes -- for the rich and famous.

Playing the bad guy has become a bit of a routine for Schreiber, who has taken on a plethora of villainous roles throughout his career. From Victor Creed/Sabretooth in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" to the wrongly framed but eventual murderer Cotton Weary in the "Scream" franchise, he's been there and done that, but they're roles Schreiber says ultimately are the best -- even though we, as viewers, tend to dislike the dark-hearted characters.

"Everyone says villains are thankless parts, but those are really the best roles," said Schreiber in an interview with "Vanity Fair." It also helps his case that he has a rather nefarious look about him, but that doesn't always translate well in real life, as people tend to "think I'm a lot meaner than I am."

Mean is good for Donovan, though, as he faces some new challenges in season 3, especially with his personal life in such a state of disarray. He's focusing a lot more of his time and energy on his career, which sees him working with a new client -- one with a lot of wealth and a lot of power.

In the season premiere, he met billionaire Andrew Finney (Ian McShane, "American Horror Story") and took him on as a client after hearing that Andrew's son had been kidnapped. This led to him meeting an entirely new class of people, including Paige Finney (Katie Holmes, "Dawson's Creek"), a tough and savvy businesswoman who has her own plans to usurp her father's wealth by any means necessary.

Alas, Donovan is presented with an immediate problem -- one that he may not be able to fix on his own. Will he work and operate under the established and reputable billionaire or give in to temptation and side with the manipulative, up-and-coming billionaire's daughter? It's a storyline that promises to play out over the course of the season, as both McShane and Holmes have signed on to the show for extended guest arcs.

Ian McShane and Liev Schreiber as seen in “Ray Donovan”

While Donovan may be great at fixing other people's problems, most of the time the biggest issue for him is the one near and dear to his heart -- his family -- which always seems to prove too difficult for him to fix. Donovan's father, Mickey Donovan (Jon Voight, "24"), is a charismatic ex-con who's on a mission to claim what he deems to be rightfully his and routinely threatens to destroy all that his son has built for himself. Also causing issues is Donovan's brother, Terry Donovan (Eddie Marsan, "Sherlock Holmes," 2009), who is currently in jail because of a heist gone wrong led by -- you guessed it -- his father Mickey.

Starring in "Ray Donovan" as the titular man himself could seem very daunting and challenging to viewers, especially with all the emotional turmoil and what seems to be a constant drain on the psyche. For Schreiber, however, it's actually the opposite.

"The [scenes] that people typically think are challenging are the scenes that are very dramatic and have some emotional pull on them," Schreiber told actor Maggie Gyllenhaal ("The Honorable Woman") in an "Actors on Actors" segment for "Variety." "Those are the scenes that I generally find the easiest because there's something to do and you know what you're doing.

"I think the scenes that are more difficult [for me] are the scenes that you're not sure or maybe the writers aren't sure what they want the scene to be about," he added. "You're sort of rifling around in the scene with different attitudes and approaches in the hopes of finding something that has some narrative continuity to it."

For all problems, there's a solution. Most of the time. Can't figure it out? Pick up the phone and call someone. If you're Hollywood's biggest and brightest, you call Donovan. From paying off local corrupt government officials to using scare tactics to quieting someone forever, Donovan is a stoic character who rarely focuses on himself, but more so on what's most important to him -- family. Tune in to catch a new episode of "Ray Donovan" airing Sunday, July 26, on Showtime.