The Dark Knight star Colin McFarlane is diagnosed with prostate cancer

Colin McFarlane, known for his role in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, has revealed that he has prostrate cancer after discovering a 'genetic link'.

The 61-year-old actor opened up about his diagnosis which came after testing in December.

McFarlane, who played Gillian Loeb in two of Nolan's Batman films, says that his frequent visits to the doctors over the past eight years meant that the cancer was caught early.

Twitter / @ProstateUK

The actor said one in four black men are at risk of the disease which kills 120,000 men each year.

He said men are two-and-a-half times more likely to get prostrate cancer if their brother or father has had it.

Since his own diagnosis, McFarlane encouraged his brothers to get checked - only for one of them to receive his own diagnosis.

Speaking to The Mirror, the British actor said: "My dad is benign but he had an operation in 1999 and he said to me, 'Oh, I decided not to tell you and your brothers because I didn’t want to worry you'.

"He had no awareness of the fact that, actually, it was really important that he told us because there’s a genetic link."

Twitter/@colinmcfarlane

According to his doctors, McFarlane's cancer is 'T1', meaning that it is at an earlier stage and currently does not need any treatment.

McFarlane explained: "You think, well, there’s a 70% chance that I’m OK. They said 'We will just give you a blood test', the same blood test that ­highlighted this. 'We will now do that as a prostate specific antigen test every three months.' And then once a year, I’ll have an MRI."

As part of a Father's Day campaign with Prostate Cancer UK, McFarlane wants to raise awareness about getting tested.

McFarlane, who shares a son with his wife Kate, said: "Fathers need to lead by example. My own research of just talking to men is that I rarely meet anybody who knows anything about prostate cancer.

"If you have prostate cancer, a positive message here is that if you catch it early, it’s treatable and curable.

"But the trouble is, men are waiting for symptoms. This probably means the cancer has spread."

Anyone concerned about their own risk for prostate cancer can learn more at prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker.