Though he may not know it, Garrett Hedlund is approaching heartthrob status. From a tiny town in Minnesota where he had a stint as a Christmas tree salesman and worked on a turkey farm, he arrived in Hollywood only to be sent straight to Malta to play Patroclus alongside Brad Pitt's Achilles in Troy. He may have invented a new way to get his career going, too. "At school I used to get so bored that I'd stay up all night and just read scripts online. I would pretend I was auditioning for the films--something with great actors back when they were younger, like Taxi Driver --and then rent the movie to see what the person that got the role did," Hedlund, 19, explains.
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Acting happens to be only one of Hedlund's many talents--he plays the piano fluently, was that "annoying yearbook photographer" in his high school years, and now he excitedly proclaims himself a member of the Beverly Hills Croquet Club. And what does Hedlund do when he feels pangs of homesickness for late nights of playing hockey on Minnesota lakes? Reads. He's currently devouring Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for the second time and hoping that David Sedaris' newest is as good as Naked. Catch Hedlund this month sporting a mullet in Peter Berg's football film Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton, and most likely swatting off ladies at the film's premiere.--Brenna Egan
Coming Up Rosa
The Lifetime medical drama Strong Medicine recently hit the 100-episode mark--unheard-of longevity in cable-TV land. The show's success has a lot to do with the single-mom physician protagonist played with feisty aplomb by 31-year-old Rosa Blasi. The former Miss Chicago ("Hey, that's not exciting or important, just really funny!") pops up this month alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar in the horror flick The Grudge and has already wrapped the indie Lesser of Three Evils, in which she plays "a badass assassin" who wields butterfly knives in three-inch heels.
HOLLYWOOD LIFE: Was shooting The Grudge in Japan with a Japanese director like Lost in Translation?
ROSA BLASI: Yeah, we did have a translator. The director [Takashi Shimizu], as wonderful as he was, didn't speak any English. I felt like I got the Hollywood Cliché Award when I found out that most of my scenes had been trimmed, but of course I don't hold a grudge with The Grudge. I was grateful for the experience--it was great to be playing a different role than the one I've been playing on television forever.
Has the TV universe truly expanded lately to include more faces from diverse ethnic backgrounds?
I am Latin, Italian, and Irish, but 10 years ago people on TV didn't look like me. Now, the more unique you look, the better! It's the Swedish bikini team who's having trouble finding work.
How do you maintain your beautiful figure?
A steady diet of anorexia and bulimia. Just kidding! When I posed for Stuff I didn't want to be the most airbrushed girl in the magazine, so I started running. I walk my dogs two miles a day, I dabble in exercise, but God knows I have a piece of chocolate every day.
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Sorina Diaconescu