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Eliza Dushku is having a bit of an identity crisis -- and loving every minute of it. After years of butching it up, she's gone girly. "When I was a kid, I really just wanted a chance to play football. That, and get a crew cut," laughs the 19-year-old actress, who's hanging out in her Austin hotel room during a break in filming The New Guy, a comedy due out next year. With three older brothers, she had two choices: either be a tomboy, or be a princess. With a feminist poli-sci professor mom, the princess thing really wasn't much of an option.

"I'd invite friends over, and my mother would want to talk about what's going on in Rwanda. My friends would be like 'dude, your mom's crazy.'" At this point in her (nearly ten-year) acting career, Dushku's best know for her recurring role as Buffy's blood-shedding slayer nemesis Faith, on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel. While it was a little funny to see her turning cartwheels as a cheerleader in this fall's campy teen flick Bring It On, what's really shocking is that she's doing it again in The New Guy.

"We've only been rehearsing the cheers for about a week, but the relationship I've developed with the girls on my squad is amazing. It's unlike anything I ever had in high school, where I was just such a guy's girl," says Dushku, whose brooding, dark, and sexy looks are in direct contrast to these new cheerleader roles. For more contrast, check out her low, croaky voice and upbeat personality. "Last night, the girls came over, and we stayed up late doing our laundry." She pauses, laughs, and then continues in a whisper, "And playing board games like Balderdash."

Apparently I've caught her in a great mood. Even the Portishead she's got on the stereo is starting to sound chipper. "If I'm gushing bear with me. I'm just in the gushing kind of mood." No wonder: Just before we talked, she found out she landed the movie she's been obsessing over for weeks, director Michael Caton-Jones' crime drama, City By the Sea. The film's star, Robert de Niro (who played her father in This Boy's Life when she was 11), helped cast Dushku in her most dramatic role yet, a drug-addicted teen with an 18-month-old baby. "This girl's flipping hamburgers for a living, and has been through the wringer. It's going to be a really serious role, and a lot of work."

Professionally, Eliza's on a roll, but in the twilight on her teen years, she: 1) almost died in a near plane crash, coming home from Amsterdam ("We hit an air pocket over the ocean, and dropped 30,000 feet in one big swoop. Food started flying, and all the women starting saying Hail Marys."); 2) gave her beloved childhood dog away after he snapped from too much traveling and bit two wardrobe ladies ("I think I'm still a felon in the city of Chicago."); 3) conquered her fear of stage fright - just barely - by playing Aphrodite in a young playwright festival in L.A. ("I had the first line in the show, and I was supposed to be reading out this book, only it was upside down. My knees were wobbling so badly, my heels were tapping the floor."); and 4) died - repeatedly - on the set of her latest film, Soul Survivors (with Casey Affleck), due out next month ("I'd call home crying from my hotel room, saying 'Mom, I have to die again tonight, for six hours, and it's really depressing me.'")

Somehow, Eliza has the grace to make even the rocky stuff sound like an adventure. As far as she's concerned, Hollywood is hers for the taking. "My motto's always been, Go big or go home." And while she can't imagine spending Christmas anywhere but back in Boston with her family, Los Angeles has become her place to "Go big."

After moving out to Hollywood a couple of years ago, Eliza's finally letting a little bit of the West Coast's vibe sneak in on her East Coast tough-girl personality. "I actually tried surfing for the first time recently," she says, sounding oddly guilty. And how'd that go? "How'd it go? I broke the surfboard," she says. "It was this beautiful fiberglass thing from South Africa that I'd borrowed from a friend, with his name engraved on it. Bam, right into the rocks."

Can you blame her, really, if she just wants to spend the next couple of months hanging out in Texas, practicing her pyramid formations, and filming romantic high-school sweetheart scenes?