L i b r a i r i e . . .

B o s t o n  H e r a l d . . .

C a r e e r  F a l l s  I n t o  P l a c e  F o r  D u s h k u  . . .

Who: Watertown's Eliza Dushku, 21, who stars as a cheerleader in the new teen comedy "The New Guy," which opened Friday.

Her brilliant career: "I went to L.A. when I was almost 18," she said. "I had just graduated high school (in 1999) and had gone to do the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I'd enrolled at Suffolk University here, where my mother is a political science professor, and was booked to live in the beautiful new dorm. The plan was to go to L.A. for three weeks to do four episodes of "Buffy." I just kind of went though and stayed.

"I was only on "Buffy" for one season and I've been back for a couple of guest spots. I left and played a cheerleader in the movie "Bring It On" and then I did a movie called 'Back to Back.' In a film you play a character a minimum of three months and then you're off to be somebody else, and since I have a raging case of ADD and like to be all over the place and jump into a role, I like movies more than TV."

The beginning: "I was 10 years old when I started, which is crazy," said Dushku. "I didn't know at all I wanted to do this... What happened was my brother Nate was going on an audition - he's four years older. He was the one who got the acting bug early and my mother drove us and I tripped and fell and got a bloody nose on the way in and I became this drama queen and the casting director took notice. It's funny because as a kid I never watched TV and thought I'd like to be Punky Brewster. I was such a tomboy! I'd rather have been a football player than an actor. It kind of found me."

Being back home: "I love being back home. I get back here and my mother and I are really close now. It wasn't always that way in high school... But it can be difficult because the dynamics of a lot of people in my life have changed. It can be strange with the whole 'You know who your friends are.' It can be so glamorous and people around you say, 'Oh, this is the new Eliza.'

"Well, I grew up in Watertown and now I'm at the Four Seasons in Boston and all of a sudden it's a big deal and people assume that's the life I'm used to now. No way, you guys. I want my friends here to come and play this game with me. And I hope all my Boston people get their butts to the theater and support this movie."

Next: In September, Dushku co-stars with Robert De Niro and James Franco in Michael Caton-Jones' "City by the Sea." She worked with the director in "This Boy's Life" with Leonardo DiCaprio and De Niro. "I can't believe Michael came back and picked me again," she said. "So many actors want just once to work with De Niro. I was 10 and then got to do it again at 20... It's definitely a serious movie... It's pretty intense and my first time playing a heroin junkie."