'Twilight' star Samuel 'bitten by racoon'

Twilight star Xavier Samuel has revealed that he was bitten by a racoon while filming the movie Eclipse.

The Australian-born actor, who plays college-student-turned-vampire Riley in the third instalment, told Jimmy Kimmel's Total Eclipse Of The Heart that it happened in Vancouver.

Kimmel then produced a photograph of Samuel trying to avoid a racoon and jokingly asked if TMZ had been there to capture the moment.

"We went to Stanley Park," explained castmate Bryce Dallas Howard (Victoria). "I was taking pictures and there were racoons there. Xavier was like, 'Ooh, I want a picture with the racoon' so he sat down and I was taking pictures and then all of a sudden this racoon launched on him and totally bit him!"

"While she was happily snapping away!" interrupted Samuel, quipping that he might now turn into a vampire racoon.

The actor went on to insist that the animal "didn't draw blood", but Howard disagreed, saying: "It did! I was urging him to go to the hospital but he was all Aussie about it!"

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens June 30 in the US and July 8 in the UK.